Back into the Swing of things...

Goodness!  I've been totally out of sorts with keeping our family's history....sometimes you feel like there is nothing to update and everything is always the same.  But then a few months later, you realize there are so many things that do not stay around forever, and those are the things I will miss and need to document.  So, here goes at trying to be better at this blog thing.  :)
So I totally missed recording our whole summer.  But I'm not going to look back and feel badly about that, I'm going to record the here and now....and worry about summer later, maybe.
Things are good at home.  Drew and Madelyn are in 4th and 2nd grade.  They are learning to stretch their little wings as they are in different schools now with entirely new teachers, and mostly new kids.  (boundaries have switched and there have been lots of changes around here).  They are doing a splendid job in school. 
O.K. I lied.  I am going to look back just a little to update a few first day pics:

 Traditional rice krispy treats on the first day.....

 This year, they were s'more flavor treats and they were awesome.

 Yep, everyone liked them alright!

So school is going well.  I'm learning how to let my own wings stretch also.  Drew came home one day and announced that he had to sing in front of the class, solo mind you, and sing the Idaho song.  Only one night's notice and they had never even sung it in school!!  Just looked at the words.  I thought maybe this was an empty threat made by the teacher, but we prepared for the worst.  The next morning I printed off the words off the internet and practiced with him....I'll just say it didn't go well and I sent my boy off to school with a huge knot in my stomach.  I was so tempted to call the teacher and weasel him out of it, he was really sweating this I tell you.  And as a result of that, so was his mom!!  I worried about it all day long.  I was outside when he got off the bus!  He came out of the bus smiling and confident.  He did it!!  And he did just great!!  I was so happy for him, and grateful for the opportunity to have prayers answered and learn that what is important to us is also important to Heavenly Father.  He helps us to be more than we can be alone.  A great lesson for him, but especially me.
Madelyn has a supportive teacher who has noticed she needs extra work.  Thank goodness!  She has perfect grades and was getting bored, so she is supplementing her with more work.  Hooray for teachers who are helpful!  Madelyn is so good at making friends, and it is something she has had to do a lot of this year. 
Ok, you want to see something totally nasty???
I knew you would.  Hahaha....

Get ready for it:
 

Guess what I found as I got ready to make waffles this morning?  This beauty.....   So for Young Women's a long time ago, we made waffles and I was talking to some leaders about how they take care of their waffle irons.  I totally wash mine, I ignore the "do not get wet" warning and wash it with soap, water, and all!  The other leader said she just wiped hers out with a paper towel. 
Well, I never gave it much thought, and continued to wash my waffle iron as always.  Fast forward to probably a week ago, I finally decided to resist my urge to wash my waffle iron and I just put it away.  OOPS!!  I guess I still had one last waffle in that thing......So that was totally disgusting, but we had a fun time joking around with it this morning.  Nothing like a good laugh to get ya going in the morning.
So for the last 8 weeks my family (on both sides for me) have been doing a health challenge.  The goals included 3 cups of veggies daily, 1 cup of fruit daily, 64 ounces of water, no eating after 9 p.m., no sweets 6 days of the week, and 30-45 minutes of exercise 5 days a week for 8 weeks.  I did pretty good on average.  A couple of doosy weeks in there, but for the most part I worked hard.  Well, one night we had a crazy day.  Jed and I didn't get home until after 9 p.m. and we hadn't had any dinner.  We were starved.  So we decided to go all out and make us hamburgers, because we just figured out how to make our favorite burger from a restaurant even better at home and we were craving it like no other!! 
So here is Jed hard at work:

 And here is us eating them after hours with no shame!!

 Oh yeah, eating at 10:29 pm at night!!  Oh man, I wish I had one of those burgers right now!!!

Ok, I totally lied I am going to do even more catch-up.  :) 
We've celebrated 3 birthdays here in the last couple months.  First was mine:

 The kids went shopping with their dad and Madelyn got the presents all wrapped.

 They made breakfast...

 New shoes for mom!  Wahoo!

 Sugar free drinks....we were on that health challenge, so they were so sweet to look out for me and not give me any temptations.  :)

 Oh yeah, check out those lips!!  They bought me some awesome red lipstick, and I dug it out again just the other day.....for Halloween.  ;)

 Sweet sweet handmade notes and pictures from my favorite people.

 A handmade pillow, made by Madelyn.

 Gorgeous rainbow.  To be totally honest, my birthday was a moody day for me.  It seemed that messes around the house were culminating and I wasn't handling it in the best way possible.....my poor kids.  Hannah felt like she ruined my birthday.  That was a heart-wrenching moment for me.  Then I was just a puddle of tears apologizing for being so cranky.....So, this picture helps me remember there is still beauty in dark days.  There is still hope for days filled with beauty.  Just hang in there!!
Then we had Jed's birthday, it was a Sunday and he was gone in church duties most of the day, but boy oh boy were these kids ever excited when he came in the door!!

 His gifts, gift bags have been a lifesaver here lately.  :)

 Receiving his various coupons from the kids...

 New clothes.

 I wasn't as considerate and gave Jed treats on his birthday despite our health challenge.  :)

 I was having pretty much the worst cooking day of my life that day.  His cake went from plan A, to plan B, to plan C.  Which luckily tasted totally delicious, and I just need to be more content when things don't go my way!!

 Hope it was a good one for that guy I love so much.

Next up Hannah's.  She was so excited to turn 5!!  Man, she is getting big!!  She really wanted a caramel apple for her birthday this year.  She went through several cake ideas, and then decided to forget the cake altogether and ask for a caramel apple.  Which is awesome...just hard to share with family.  So I made caramel apple cupcakes!! 

 We had family come and celebrate with us the night before the actual birthday.

 Then we woke up bright and early on her birthday because her dad had to leave town. 

 New clothes.....popular gift item around here.

 Princess polly pockets, a real hit!!

 And just look at this cutie and how big she is getting!!  Slow down time, would ya??

That night we went to Artic Circle's and had hamburgers, per birthday request, and we went to a candy shop and got a gourmet caramel apple for the kids to share.....darn health challenge!!  :)
We love that Hannah, she is sure a sweetheart.  I love her prayers she is saying right now.  She is so grateful.  She is grateful to be here on earth, for her body, for our home, and so many other things that I'm glad she appreciates.  So sweet.
Well I'm going to sign off here and call it good for today.  :)