okay so anyone who knows me knows that I am obsessed with toys that teach!! being a teacher i guess that is no big surprise, but here is a delightful surprise. There is a giveaway over at picky palate for a $50 gift card to a fun online store called out of the toybox. So head over there and check it out!
What a busy and fun month! here are some of the exciting things we did...
Hockey Season has started and it is Landen's favorite! It is so fun to watch the boys get into the game, even if we are terrible this year! We also went with some friends to the hurricane street party and my favorite part was watching the kids play street hockey, landen is actually good!! another funny part was when landen and carson went sledding down a manmade snow hill, it was awesome, but carson cried:(
A fun thing about fall is going to the pumpkin patch! but vollmer is like the mother of all pumpkin patches! it was the best I can't wait until next year to go back, I am afraid that the picture doesn't even capture all the fun things there are to do, and I couldn't get my videos to upload. After we left I was sad to find out that there were even more things to do there that I missed!!!
We also went to the state fair this year, but it was different from the other years we've gone, usually we spend a lot of money on food and just a little on some rides, but this year carson was big enough to ride too and so we spend a lot of money on rides and a little on food!! the kids had a great time, but i am not going to lie, i missed my food!
Halloween was so great this year, i love the age my kids are at, it is so much fun!! This year they were batman and robin, in case any of you were wondering, no seriously... no one knew who carson was, some people just called him superman and others were like what does the R mean!?!? are you kidding me?! who doesn't know who robin is!!(that's it, next year landen gets to be the forgotten side kick and carson gets to be the hero!) this year has been ridiculous for me I keep getting reminded that I am getting old! But all the same we had a great time we went to several parties and trick or treating, I love Halloween!!!
So about a week ago was when i was in the car accident (posted about below) and since then we have received tons of junk mail from lawyers, chiropractors, insurance companies...etc. And for whatever reason whenever i get junk mail i usually rip it up, or at least in half (just a weird habit). So then today I checked the mail and there was something in there from an insurance company and it was addressed to wayne, so i was like that is weird and ripped it in half. As I was walking to the trash can to throw it away I glanced at the return address and it was from raleigh. Which was even more weird because the accident happened in town. Then somehow I remembered that the guy who came to check out my car from the insurance company had said something about being on 64 (probably from raleigh!!). I began to panic and yanked the stuff out of the envelope and sure enough it was MY CHECK to get my car fixed!!!!! I had ripped my check in half along with all of the information i need for getting my rental car and my car fixed!!! I was freaking out, so i called the guy that did the inspection and asked if i could get a new one and he gave me a number to call. But looking at the check I noticed I didn't mess up any of the numbers and so i threw the kids in the car and drove to the bank where i talked with a friend of the family and she taped it back together and we were good to go, whew!! but now i am having to tape back all the report papers, wish me luck!
So I had my first bake sale. and I am not going to lie, it made me feel really old!! I don't know why but I was like, hm, i don't like this, this is what little old ladies do! obviously not, but i still felt old, and like a real mom. I can't believe i have been a mom for 4 1/2 years! funny how a bake sale can be a reality check. Well anyways, so I made rice krispie treats and brownies, and i wrapped them in saran wrap and put a ribbon around them and a cute label...or at least i thought they were cute. that was until i dropped them off and saw all the other SUPER cute things that the other moms (who probably have more experience at the whole bake sale thing) made!! And then I was setting up one of the tables, and it made sense to me, everything was grouped in catagories, and then one of the other moms came over and redid the whole thing!!! ha ha ha, i thought it was hilarious, she did a much better job than I did, it looked really good see...
Speaking of cuteness, my friend has an etsy store where she sells watches. She gave me one as a gift and I love it. I also LOVE the one in this picture which she made and donated to be auctioned off for a breast cancer fund raiser. Click the pic and it will take you to her store. Seriously, check it out!
I've got spirit, how about you?! (does anyone remember this ridiculous cheer from their cheerleading days?) What a wonderful week it has been! I realize I am probably posting about General Conference later than everyone else, but I have other things to discuss too.
But starting with GC, It was amazing! There were so many good talks it is hard to pick a favorite, but I will say wow to Elder Jeffrey R Holland's talk which was given with such boldness and conviction. I thought it was amazing. He is always one of my favorites. I really loved when Elder David A Bednar was talking about having family home evening with his family and how his kids would be like "make him stop looking at me! He's breathing my air!!" and how his kids would giggle and poke during prayer (and at that exact moment my kids were poking and giggling) so I was grateful to hear that his kids really were listening.
Also this past week I had the opportunity to teach seminary!! That was really exciting! don't get me wrong I was really tired and had to take a nap everyday! but it was such a wonderful start to my day, I learned so much and was excited to teach it to others. It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be though, because you don't have a lot of time to prepare the lesson.
I also just got a new calling as the laurel and miamaid advisor, which means I teach their class and work with the YW President on any needs the girls have. And the good news is I get to keep my calling as a RS teacher. They just decided that the Sunday I teach in RS the girls can just go with me :)
I am so grateful for the power of the priesthood! Landen has had the croupe (SP?) for a couple of days and last night was really bad, he was coughing so bad that he couldn't breathe, no exaggeration. I called Wayne's dad and asked him to come assist wayne in giving a blessing. Things got really bad before he got here so i started getting landen ready to take him to the hospital. Since the night air is suppose to help we decided to wrap him up and wait outside. They were able to give him a blessing and things got better and he was able to get a good nights sleep. I know the priesthood is the power to act in God's name and that Landen will be fine.
thanks for listening to my stories, i promise to blog about more exciting things soon.
I feel like I have been out of touch with the outside world! My phone broke and it took me about two weeks before I got another one, and during that time for about a week I didn't have a computer because it got a virus!!! so i was definitely having some technical difficulties! So really we didn't do much because i was afraid to go anywhere, i thought for sure my car was probably the next thing to go and i wouldn't have been able to call anyone to come rescue me! So here are some pictures to show how we spend our time at home.
But something else I have been working on is a new blog...surprise! I have like a billion of them. But I am really excited about this one. It is a recipe blog! I hope you will all check it out and participate is either giving ratings or variations. Also if you have a recipe you would like to share and have featured on my blog then please feel free to email it to me so i can try it out. There is not much on it yet because i am just getting started. So anyways the site is http://www.dinnertimecritic.blogspot.com/, spread the word!
So I made this for a friend's birthday gathering, and i thought it was a little on the sweet side, but that might just be me. So in my opinion i would add less chocolate chips then in calls for, by anyways here is my dessert recipe:
Smore Bites
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 3/4 cup milk chocolate chips
3 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
1 pkg graham crackers (not one box, just one of the inside packages), broken into bite size pieces.
line a 9-inch baking pan with foil
heat cream in medium saucepan over med-high heat for 1-2 minutes or until bubbles appear around edges. Remove from heat. Add morsels; stir until smooth. Cool, stirring occasionally, for 10-12 min. Add marshmallows; stir to coat. Gently stir in graham cracker pieces until combined.
spread mixture into prepared pan; press down lightly.
refridgerate for 2 hrs or until firm, cut into bars
if anyone else has a dessert they would like to share that would be great, and let me know what you think.
Thanks to those who left a comment on my last post, and as I promised here is a recipe in return. Actually I think I am going to start posting recipes and I would love to know what you think of them, and if you have any that you would like to add, that would be even better!! So I know I am not going to be able to please everyone cause everybody likes different things, but here is one that i like to use up some ground beef:
Rice Casserole
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 box chicken flavored rice
grated cheddar cheese
Brown beef and onions. Cook rice according to package directions. Mix soup and beef. Add rice. Mix and pour in 13 x 9 casserole dish. Top with grated cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.
Easiness Level: 1 (doesn't get much easier than this!)
and it will easily feed a family of 4-5, well depending on how much people eat. Also I usually just serve this with bread and some broccoli as the side. Well let me know what you think, or if you have a recipe you would like to leave, that would be great!!
okay so this happens to me all the time, i try to make different things for dinner so we don't get sick of just having the same ole' things all the time. however whenever it comes time to make something with hamburger i spend over an hour debating what in the world to make!!! so i need some help, does anyone have a recipe that they like that calls for hamburger? PLEASE! leave me a comment with the recipe, i need some new ideas! In return, i am going to start posting recipes that i try that i like, fair deal?
So if you have never checked out shabbyblogs.com you are totally missing out!!!!! she has just added more backgrounds and this is one of them!!! but the even more exciting news is that one of her backgrounds is titled LANDEN!!!! not landon, but landen as in my baby's name! so of course i grabbed that one and put it on my boys blogs!!!! oh yeah and there is one called new moon, can't forget to mention that one!! so head over there and check them out!!
Okay so wayne has been obsessed with Taylor Swift for like forever! However, if we are being honest he really only likes her because of her undeniable good looks, because anyone that heard her at the CMT awards knows that in reality she cannot sing (bless her heart!). However, I too have musical crushes, but unlike my husband mine are not based on appearances (seriously, you will see what i mean). Nonetheless, I have always loved music and for whatever reason these are guys whose voices reach out to me and even their songs are just my type i guess. There is just something in their voices that i love, and so i would like to present my top 4, which is a random number and they are in no particular order, but all the same this is who i love! P.S- It is also extremely important for me to have musical crushes because i might as well admire those that can sing, seeing as how everytime i start to sing my two year old begins to cry!
Alright ladies now it is your turn, who are your musical crushes?
I love being outside, and Rocky Mount has a fair amount of fun things to do during this hot and humid month!! So this is how the Hollomans beat the heat!
okay so here is a video, i also have pictures that right now blogger won't let me upload so i will try again later.
