We're alive. lol

I guess an update is in order. :-/ Not much good has been happening so I have kind of let this slide. Things have still been just as busy as ever, I really am ready for them to ease off and slow down.  Anyways, on a good note; we did finally get Nicholas' medicine worked out. Yay! We are also working on getting him into counciling to see if that will help with his aggression issues that are developing. He is such a sweet and smart kid. It's hard to know that other people can't see that because of is Autism.
Austin has finished up cross country! He runs his almost 2 miles in 12:24.....and has the possiblity of being Captain next year. Awww. AND.....the little crap is taller than me now by about an inch! Couldn't believe it! What happened to my baby?
Nathan is doing well for the most part. He is the top reader in his class. We are just having to deal with some normal "I think I'm grown" issues. Not a bad thing, just more of a headache than anything else. He is still damn cute though. :-)
Andrew.....awwww 2 year olds. Need I say more? lol His speech is expanding everyday and he is loving music! He has quite a few songs he asks for by name. Is it sad that they are not kid songs? :-)

Halloween went well! We had a Mario, Luigi, a little Koopa turtle, and a robber. Mommy dressed up again this year as the Cheshire cat. Yea, I'm awesome. lol

As for other things. I have decided to quit smoking again. Good luck to me. Also I want to work some more on losing weight and possible start up some more college courses. Life is already full and busy, but I need to be able to fit these things in as well.

Blog slacking

Wow! I have been seriously slacking on updating my blog lately! Life has still been one thing after another this last month! So a quick recap to get everyone up to date....

--Nick just celebrated his 10th birthday! (omg :/) He is an amazing smart boy! He took a photography elective last year and has decided he wants to be a photographer, so he got his first digital camera! Raising Nick is quite a struggle most days but on his good days, he is a wonderful young man and teaches me something that I wouldn't have ever learned otherwise.

--As most of you know, Nick has ADHD and Autism. We have been dealing with alot of new 'issues' so far this school year. Right now we are working with his doctor, teachers, and special aides to try and find a different way to help him deal with stress. Also possibly looking at some medicine changes as he grows deals with hormonal and mood changes.

--Hand, foot, and mouth disease was apparently going around our school. smh. Unfortunately the day they sent home the paper notifying the parents, was also the day that Austin was diagnosed with it. Yay...grrrr! This disease is something that normally only affects children 5 and under, but for some reason older kids and some adults have been catching it more this year. HF&M disease is HIGHLY contagious, so the kids and I were quarantined for most of the week. Austin and Andrew ended up being the only ones that caught it which was better than all 4, unfortunately it hits the younger kids the hardest. I ended up sitting on the floor with a medicine dropper and koolaid, just to get Andrew to drink something since the blisters in his mouth prevented him from drinking out of his cup.

--Cross Country and Soccer have started. Only Nathan and Austin are participating this year because Nick's coach decided to back out at the last minute. As bad as that sounds, its a good thing for me, because I have just a little less running to do in the evenings. :) So far so good! The boys are enjoying it and Nick and Andrew enjoy playing on the school playground while we wait for Nathan to be done with practice.

--Last but not least....the garden! Everything has been harvested! Got some canning and some freezing done, but still have some left to be done. Also looking at making some homemade applesauce and canning it as well.

So I think that is the gist of whats been happening the last few weeks. Life is just busy right and I am hoping that it settles down soon!!!

Well Poo

The last 2 weeks have been crazy, hectic, thrilling, amazing, annoying, and any other synonyms you can think of for both good and bad!!

Kids started school, which is good, but Nathan is trying to adjust to all day school and daily homework. This means that by the time he gets home in the afternoon he is at the end of his patience and exhausted. (bad for me and the other 3 kids) So trying to get him to do anything has become a huge challenge!

Austin has been having cross country practice which he really enjoys. Nick and Nathan just finished sign-ups for soccer. All great things, however it means that everyday except Sunday we have games and practices, which sometimes over-lap. We are hardly going to be home and will be living off sandwhiches for dinner because Tim sleeps all evening and works all night, So its just me. Not to mention trying to get homework finished!

I met some really great people this last week, awesome, however they live 2 hours away. You can see the problem, right? They are amazing and worth the effort. Right now they are dealing with alot of sickness and other issues and it hurts that I am not close enough to offer more help than just listening.

The icing on the cake......
My main computer decided to take a dump. So we had plans to get it in and checked out when Tim got his "bonus" from work. Not a huge deal. HOWEVER, right after that my microwave went on the fritz and needs to be replaced and today my dryer decided it was a good time to die. (granted we have had it for 9 years or so, but still.....NOW? Really?) So, the extra money that we were going to recieve is now not happening! Yay. :( When it rains it pours!

So, as you can see, lots of good things that bring the bad with them. Its fine. It is what it is. Its life and sometimes it sucks, but it could be so much worse.
Really, at this point, I am just feeling overworked and stressed. I want to run away for awhile. :-P

DJ

Happy Birthday DJ!!!

I can't believe how big you are getting! One day we will get to know each other!

Hope you had a great day!

Love,

Aunt Misty

What a night

You would figure that after 7 years of 'the first day of school' that it wouldn't be a big deal. Yet here I am at 5 in the morning because I couldn't sleep. Mainly trying to remember if the boys have everything, backpacks loaded. Hoping their day goes good. And praying that Nathan won't fight me when its time to get up. :)  I have spent the entire night tossing and turning. Well, except for a few night time visitors. :) Andrew came in cause he was wet. At least he went back to sleep fine! Surprisingly Nick came in. He was having zombie nightmares. (Thank you science channel, for your excellent episode on trying to re-animate corpses with electric shock.) Most of you know that Nick is on the Autism spectrum, well science is his "thing". So anyways, after some snuggles and him going through every detail on the show that he could remember (LOL YAY), he asked for a story and finally fell back asleep. I again was not so lucky.
So, up I get. No point in falling asleep now, when my alarm will be going off in an hour.

On a good note.......
I got my blog done today, which was unplanned. I got the coffee brewing. And I rechecked backpacks, snack money, and made sure all the sneakers were present and accounted for! LOL

Much to do today, but I hopefully I can squeeze in a nap. After getting the boys to school I have to go pick up my van from the shop. (Hopefully it isn't going to cost an arm and a leg.) From there I have to run to Walmart and grab a few things. Hit the bank, the redemtion center, and then home!
After school the boys and I have to run to Waterville to get some shoes for them since the pay finally came in. I also hoping to set up a meeting with some people I have been chatting with while we are there. They seem really friendly and we have alot of the same interests. I'd like to get to know them better. ( I can see Miss Corrie and Miss Erin reading this and jumping up and down.) I have had a really hard time meeting people since we moved here, and the few I have met were......Odd. LOL

Few other non-related things........
The kids and I are not going to the next few fairs. (boys are bummed) Because one of our babies got sick at the state fair and passed it along to the rest of our chickies. We have had quite a few pass away, but most of them are getting better or are better. We just want to make sure they are 100% healthy before putting them back around any other birds.

Tina and Family......Congrats again on Little Landry! Hope you and the family are getting settled into your new routine. Its a bit of an adjustment adding the third baby, but totally worth it.

Amber......I told you Goa would be a good one! You still owe me a list of reasons you chose it. HAHAHA Love you and give them babies love!!!!

Corrie and Erin...........OCTOBER, BABIES!!! Can't wait! Love and miss y'all and I am so excited that we are getting together again. Casino and Hibachi Grill.....Look out!

Dunno...rambling

 Everyone, please feel free to skip over this. Just spitting out thoughts. And No, I don't mean anything or anybody inparticular in regards to this post.

I am in a 'mood' right now. Not a bad mood or anything. I guess a contemplative mood would be the right term. Why do we always want what we don't have? What makes us think that the grass just might be greener on the other side. We know deep down that its not, but that doesn't keep you from wondering. I'm pretty sure that those people on the 'greener' side all think our side might be better. Maybe it comes down to self esteem? Maybe we feel like we don't deserve what we have so we pick and poke at it trying to fix it, but its not broken. Eventually all the poking is probably going to do more damage than good. Then what we have is gone. Now what? Now we want it back. Go figure. The old saying goes that you never know what you had until its gone. True?

Maybe living every day like its your last would help? Imagine every day that everything you love will be gone tomorrow. What do you want those closest to you to know? Or maybe imagine that YOU will be whats gone tomorrow. How do you want those left behind to remember you? What would you say to them before you said goodnight?  I think the thought is that it makes us put ourselves IN the moment, to think about what you have now, because it won't always be there.

Such an easy concept, but unbelievably hard to do. Try reminding yourselve everyday how important your life and those in it are to you and then spend the day showing it. See if it makes a difference in your life and the lives of those around you.

Hmm....Guess I am done.

Green Beans

So I picked a bunch of green beans out of the garden the other day and decided to get them canned tonight while I had the chance to. I started doing some canning last year and found that although it does take a bit of time, the taste and money saved more than makes up for it. Its nice to know EXACTLY what is in my veggies, what they were grown with, and all that jazz. The kids will ask now if their veggies are "my" veggies or store ones. I am proud to say they like mine the best. ;-)
The green beans took about 4 hours to can. Cutting, washing, cooking, and canning.

Fresh Green Beans

My Canning book

Washing beans and jars

Still filling the cooking pot

After boiling the green beans, adding them to

the jars

Keeping the lids in hot water so they will seal

Finally in the canner!!!

Finished product

9 Jars

Already!!!!!

I can't believe my 3rd child is 6 already!!!! It doesn't feel like that long has passed since I brought him home from the hospital! It makes me sad that time seems to fly by after you have kids, but I am so excited to watch my boys grow and thrive and become wonderful young men.

Nathan is the one that keeps me on my toes. I always say that he is where all my gray hairs are coming from! He is headstrong, stubborn, loud, stubborn, persistant, stubborn, and always on the go. Did I mention stubborn? LOL! He is also adorably cute, helpful, funny, determined, smart, and lovable! He is slow to warm up to people, but he is so worth the time it takes to get to know him. He is the first one to jump in and offer his help and even though his help isn't always "helpful" right now, it is a great quality that I hope he holds on to.
Daddy is off tomorrow, so we are doing cake and ice cream then. He's not too happy about that, but he was glad to get his gifts today. :)

Happy Birthday Nathan!!! I love you!!!

Rides and Derbies

Well we didn't make it to the demolition derby earlier this week due to weather, but we got to go yesterday. The derby didn't start until 7pm so the kids, my nephew Jay, and I decided to head out early (3:30) and get some rides in. (You notice....no Tim.....AGAIN!) He had to work that night. He did show up for the derby portion of our day, so that was nice. I really do not like the night shift  sometimes.
The kids and I had a blast though. They all got the "There is only one of me and 5 of you, so behave or we leave speech" and they all did awesome. They were very patient when Nathan picked a 'kiddy' dragon ride and we all had to wait until moving to what the next person wanted to ride. Also I have to thank Jay and Austin for being helpful and standing with the stroller and one of the younger kids so that everyone got to ride something "with mommy".  I think we rode the Polar Express 6 times because each kid wanted a turn with me. Awww to be so loved lol. Mr. Andrew chilled in the stroller for most of the afternoon and just enjoyed the scenery.....so I didn't have to do alot of chasing...YAY!

As for the demolition derby.....the boys LOVED it of course. Me.....it was ok I guess. My life with boys......gotta do things they like to do. There we a few good moments. Mainly though......a bunch of men driving around and hitting each other. It was like bumper cars for adults. HAHA (BTW....bumper cars was the boys favorite ride of the day)

And so this concludes our day at the fair. :)

Andrew 'cheesing'

Nick in the bumper cars

Nick, Nathan, and Austin

Nathan is pretending to ride a bronco....he was

yelling 'yeee-haw ride 'em cowboy'

Yep....he's mine...sigh (j/k)

Demolition Derby

Nick....Think he was having fun? He was saying 'Yeah!'

My nephew Jay....it was a suspense filled moment.

Austin waiting for them to start crashing again.

Skowhegan State Fair

It's that time of year again! Summer is getting ready to come to an end and Fall is just around the corner. That means FAIR time! Unlike most people, fair time for us is not JUST about the rides and checking out all the attractions! For us, fair time means getting chickens washed and dried and all pretty for the Poultry Show! Last year was the first time for the boys and I to enter some of our chickens. We enjoyed it quite a bit and decided to enter again this year! (Whats not to love?....Time with the family, money, cute animals, and we learn alot of interesting facts about different breeds of chickens, ducks, geese, and turkeys!)

Anyways, this morning the family and I got up early (quarter to 6 for me and 6:30 for the boys), had breakfast, and headed out to get the chickens loaded into their crates and into the truck. All was going well until I realized a few of my chickens decided to have a party and go swimming in their water bowl. Now I have 5 soaked and dirty chickens. Argh! So much for their baths earlier this week! So we bring those few to the house and washed them up and gave them a quick blow dry. (Pictures on that later....Who knew you had to give chickens a bath???) LOL Now that all that is done we load into the truck and off we go. The chickens had to start going into their cages at 8:30. All the boys were super helpful! Austin supervised Andrew running around while Nick and Nathan helped me get all the chickens into their pens and got their food and water bowls filled! So now all we can do is wait for the judging! We scouted around to see what other breeds and types of chickens were there and then headed to get some groceries and then home!

This evening before dinner we decided to head back to the fair to check out the results! We did awesome! We got 11 First places, 11 Second Places, and 1 Third place! We did have two disqualifed for having the wrong types of combs.......hmmm. But all in all 23 placed out of 25 birds! They boys are thrilled! All together we earned $150.00!! The kids will each get their own individual check that they can chose to keep or deposit into their savings accounts. We have 5 fairs that we do and they only get to "keep" one check to spend and the rest goes to their savings, but they get to chose which check to keep. Good lesson for them to learn, or so I think. Our chickies will stay at the fair until Sunday when we have to pick them up. Then we'll have a few weeks until we will do this all again for the Clinton Fair.

Sooo......without further ado.......pictures!!

One of Nathan's Gold Sebright (Girl)

One of Nathan's Gold Sebright (boy)

One of Austin's Silver Laced Wyandotte (boy)

Golden Laced Wyandotte

Nick and Nathan have these

One of Nick's Buff Columbian Wyandottes

My Buff Sebright Rooster

My Red Pyle Rooster

(His name is Gomer....haha)

Two of my male Silver Duckwings

I didn't take pictures of all of the birds we put in, but those are all of the types we entered.

Now......tomorrow the boys want to go to the demolition derby.

Oh.....Lord! They are gonna get ideas!!

Garden Pics

Just some pics of the garden last week. Everything is growing well! We have even been able to start picking some things.

Baby Cantelope!!

<-----Onions and Wax Beans ----->

Tim and the Cabbage Head. :)

Tall corn!! Austin is 5'4!

      <------Garden------>

Summer Swim Camp

The boys just finished their 2 week summer swim camp. We were really excited when Nick and Nathan got accepted into Camp Podooc at Lake George. They left at 8:30am and got home at 2:30pm. (Is it bad of me to say that I really, really enjoyed have minus 2 kids during the day?) Its been a long summer and it was a nice break for me and for all the boys to have some time away from each other. Anyways, the boys had a blast. They did arts and crafts in the morning, lunch, then singing and practicing their end of camp plays, and finally spent the last 2 hours swimming.  The camps' theme this year was Bats, Rats, and Spiders. The kids spent time learning how those things are beneficial to nature and their habits and habitats.
Friday was their last day and families were invited to watch the kids perform and to explore the camp. Nathan's play was How Miss Spider Stopped the Litter Bugs. Its was a really cute play! The 'Chickadees' (kids going into 1st and 2nd) did a great job. Unfortunately Nathan decided that he would rather sit with us than be on the stage. Not a big deal, but something I do hope he grows out of.
Nick's play was The Piped Piper. It was done by the 'Ospreys', which are the kids going into 5th and 6th. Nick was technically a 'Loon', but they had too many so some of them were put with the older kids. Nick and the Ospreys' of course did great. Their group was old enough to really get into the drama part. And their costume ideas we very individual!
All in all, it was a busy, exciting 2 weeks, but we are glad that it is over. I am extremely happy that my kids had an oppertunity for a "camp" experience! It's something that I always wished to do as a kid.

Up next week.......state fair time!

Lake George swimming area

Camp cabins. Reminds me of Dirty Dancing (sigh) and The Parent Trap!

Two of my favorite movies from way back when!

The Chickadees play.....Nathan's group

The Ospreys' play. Nick's group

Garden update

I spent almost 4 hours in my garden weeding today. At least the weather was nice and I got to work on my tan. lol  The weeds and I are in a battle for ownership of the garden. I swear they multiply by the minute! On a good note, things are growing nicely. We did have to replant some beets since some of them got crowded out by the radishes. Lesson learned for next time.
Without further ado....pics.

The front half of the garden.

 Tomatoes, carrots, beets, onions, green beans, yellow beans, and corn.

Baby Bell Peppers!!

The back half of the garden.

cabbage, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli,

cucumbers, squash, watermelon, cantelope, and pumpkin.

A head of cabbage in the making.

Grow broccoli grow.

Corn is growing fast!

Got all my work done today. Heading out tomorrow for some mommy pampering before Tim goes back to work. Time for a haircut and some waxing and some girl talk!

Yum, Yum, Yummy

So I was surfing the web a few days ago and saw something about Banana-Split Cupcakes. I had never heard of them before and decided to look into it further. I found the recipe and rave reviews, so I picked up the stuff to bake them. My kids, nephew, hubby, and mother-in-law loved them. I loved that they were so easy and different. Not to mention they look super cute.
I told a few people about it and offered to pass on the recipe. So without further ado.......

1 box yellow cake mix (mixed as directed)
1 cup banana - mashed
1 cup chopped maraschino cherries
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Frosting:
One tub vanilla frosting
One jar Fluff (7oz)

Preheat oven to 350. Set aside 2 tbs cake mix. Mix remaining cake mix, eggs, banana and water until smooth. In separate bowl, drain and chop cherries. I laid mine out on a paper towel to absorb as much moisture as possible. Mix reserved cake mix into cherries. Add chocolate chips and slowly add to batter.
 Spoon batter into cupcake liners and bake for 15-20 minutes. Remove once fork/toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
For frosting: mix one tub vanilla frosting and one tub Fluff. I put mine in a ziplock bag and snipped off the end and piped on to the cooled cupcake. Then I topped with a maraschino cherry.
I got 24 good sized cupcakes out of this.

Pretty basic, but delicious!

You can do choc drizzle, peanuts, sprinkles, or whatever on top.

Garden 2012

One of my absolute favorite things about being away from military housing and staying in one place is being able to have a garden! Last years garden was my first and went so well we decided to expand it this year! The family and I love having fresh veggies! And I love hearing my kids ask if they can grab a cucumber for a snack! Of course you can my loves!
This year we have tomatos, carrots, beets, radishes, green beans, wax beans, onions, corn, green peppers, cabbage, lettuce, squash, watermelon, cucumbers, and cantelopes.
I can't wait until they are ready! I'm excited to get some more canning done this year!

The garden with the lovely orange fence to keep the chickens out!

Yep, I make them work.

Nick weeding the garden.

Nathan

Austin

I think its good for them!

As we start getting some produce and the garden grows, I'll post more pics!