Family, fun & basketball...

We were blessed the other night with tickets to go and see a Timberwolves basketball game (none of us are fans of the Timberwolves - just of Basketball in general) AND one of our junior highers was performing after the 1st quarter (she was AWESOME by the way)!!

My kids had SUCH a ball - Colton cheered whenever EITHER team made a basket...

Here's him in his Timberwolves wig...


We took a fun crew with us!













We had GREAT seats right behind the Wolves bench... well a few rows back! :)


No matter where the seats were - we were THANKFUL (they were free after all) and the kids had SO MUCH FUN no matter what! :)

Some things never change...

I had to go over to my grandparents (my mom's parents) to help deliver their Angel Food basket - which if you haven't gotten one yet, you totally SHOULD - WHAT A DEAL!! :)

So my kiddos got to hang out for a few minutes with Papa-Boo (as the grandkids call him) and Mom Mom (my grandma).

Growing up, hanging out at my grandparents house (which we used to live less than a mile from them) was always fun. They didn't have the "coolest" toys (okay, actually my grandma did - she used to have 10 or so Cabbage Patch Kids - that were hers, a Teddy Ruxpin, a ton of teddy bears and beautiful dolls - but we weren't always allowed to play with them - only look) she had a bunch of toys that were my mom's when she was younger and "People's" (if you're old enough to remember the originals). But we always had fun...

The highlight of going to Mom Mom's house was climbing the big tree in their front yard... my children had fun doing the same thing this afternoon! :)















Like I said... some things never change! :)
What I enjoyed 20+ years ago (no I'm not that old - I just started young!) my kids still enjoy today!

No more clothes wars!!

I love my family so much - they just don't even know!!
For Chayse's birthday this year I asked my family to get her some "nice/cool" clothes for church and outings and they did great! (Just to clear things up - Leslie saved Chayse's day by NOT getting her clothes, but her new favorite video instead... otherwise Chayse would have gotten ALL clothes for her birthday - which she said she was okay with, but she was glad that Leslie got her something "fun")
They have no idea how much they made my weekend so peaceful this last weekend because of it...

Let me set this up... lately Chayse and I have many "discussions" about her choice in clothes, shoes, and how she does her hair - I'm not sure how to define her "taste"... but its usually a little too sloppy for what I want. OR she wears the perfect outfit with her riding boots or "skater" tennis shoes!!

But this weekend was H E A V E N ! !
Here's how the weekend went:

• Friday day (went to the MOA with Israeli friends) SHE picked out a dress that my dad picked out and bought for her (good job Dad!!) and I suggested her footless tights - she even put a ribbon in her hair (which she later took out - but that's okay)
• Saturday night (church) SHE picked out her new black dress from Melissa and wore her golden shoes with it.
• Sunday morning (church) SHE picked out her new outfit from Nana - plaid pants, brown shirt, pink sweater and brown ballet flats... again, PERFECT!!
• Sunday Night (NTHI - church) SHE picked out the brown dress Melissa got her and again wore her footless tights and ASKED ME which shoes to wear with it, I said the golden ones, she agreed and wore it with her HAIR DOWN...

It was like she all of a sudden has taste and wants to look good (like I want her to) - it was amazing! I'm not sure how long this will keep up - but I'm enjoying it while I have it!

Sorry for all the details - but you just HAD to understand how big of a deal this was to me! :)
Thanks family - you are the best!


This is a picture of her at the MOA in the dress my Dad picked out - didn't he do good and doesn't she look SO CUTE! :)

I just love how big my "big girl" is getting! :)

The Real Birthday Party!!!

With the busyness of a "typical" weekend at the Shirley household - we (with Chayse's agreement) decided to postpone her birthday dinner to Monday night (tonight) where she gets to pick the meal and have her birthday cake. However, she did choose to have her presents yesterday (on her real birthday) - but I expected that! :)

Here are the attendee's...
Grandpa, Grandma, Fred (Daddy), Kelly (Mommy), Chayse, Connor & Colton....
(I'm the one taking the pictures...)











So what did my girly want... "breakfast for dinner" - her favorite! :)
We had quiche (egg pie w/ ham), banana bread, biscuits, fruit & OJ... she loved it! :)














But the BEST part of the evening... her birthday cake! :)

You can't tell in the picture too well, but I added blue food coloring to the sprinkle cake mix (which made a funky blue colored cake - being that blue is her new favorite color) with pink frosting, candy letters (ooohhh, what a treat), candles & LOTS of sprinkles on top!
She loved it and I'm happy to make my daughter's day! :)

Nine years ago today...

Nine years ago today, I became a mommy... a little girl was laid in my arms and I cried at the reality of God's goodness to me in the form of my only little girl!













And today she is NINE years old... it doesn't really seem that long ago, but yet it seems like forever ago at other times.

Everyone always tells you to "cherish the days when they are little because they fly by" and I try to - but it still makes you kinda "drop your jaw" when you realize just how big your "baby" really is...














Happy Birthday Chayseeboo! :) Mommy loves you more than you'll ever know! :)

This happy face only cost me ONE CENT!!

My son is usually very good at the store - once in a while he has his moments, but overall - very good! :)
So, I usually make the point to give him a "treaty" for being so good - so here's what he chose as his "treat" the other day... a pony ride at the grocery store in town















And all this fun (and that happy little face) only cost me:




Now isn't that a happy day! :)

Did you see the clouds?

Ok, I have this "things" for clouds... I can literally sit outside for an hour (and not realize its been that long) and just "watch the clouds go by".

So as I'm driving the kids to school on Friday, this is what the sky looks like...















Kinda crazy, huh... it looks like waves in the sky (I think)

Dinner from scratch... a homemakers "dream"

okay, maybe not a "dream come true" - but a WONDERFUL night for me! And yes, I'm going to reveal what a "dork" I really am!

Anyone who knows me (truly) knows that I can cook (sort of) - but honestly, its that I can make a few things well - but I'm not normally too adventurous. But tonight... I was in a "happy homemaker" kind of mood and wanted to make something from scratch for dinner - no "kits", no "shortcuts"... just a "real" dinner. (I've come a LONG WAY from a "nice dinner about 7 years ago being take out from Chili's)

So I got out my cookbook and was going to make pancakes from scratch when I found something even better...

Oven Puff Pancakes with a spiced apple sauce

IT WAS DELICIOUS and satisfying to know that I made it from scratch... just like a good housewife of the days ago would have! :)

Somewhere deep down inside I am a good cook & housewife that can make a few good things! :)

In case you want the recipe - check it out here - except their recipes doesn't have 1/3 cup of raisins that mine did!

I love my Pastor...

Its always amazing to me how your Pastor can speak on a message that you go into it thinking "well, I'll just hear a good word to pass on" and he (through the Holy Ghost) says some things that just blow your mind and totally challenge what you think!

That was my Pastor tonight - I love when he teaches! He's been doing a series on "Blessed is the man" and tonight's topic was about the "peacekeeper". And it was just SO GOOD - you have to go and get it on iTunes...

One thing (there were more - but I'll just share one) he got talking about was getting your peace in your time of prayer (Word time, quiet time, time with the Lord - whatever you want to call it) and then KEEP it when you get out in the real world so that you can be a light and a testimony to others. I've heard that so many times before, but tonight (in the context of all that he was teaching) it just LIT UP on the inside of me how MUCH God wants me to have HIS peace and that I'm blessed when I do.

Thanks Pastor Mac - I love being a part of your church and staff!

6:58 am

There it is... some call it early - I call it SLEEPING IN!!

That is what time my first child came and said "Good Morning Mommy" this morning... it was heaven! :)

Just so you understand - I usually hear a "bang, bang" on the wall in the morning between 5:30 and 5:45 am - so 6:58 is sleeping in!!

So I thought you'd enjoy my "slice of heaven" from this morning