paul would be proud

This morning, we tried two new things. Breakfast at Subway {thumbs up!!!!} and visiting a fire station!! :-) When Levi went with my parents to Chicago a few weeks ago, he missed a field trip with his class to the local fire station. Boo. So, Eric made it up to him today by setting up a meeting. Yay! One of Eric's drivers is also a fire fighter and invited us to come today. {FYI...did you know you can go visit any fire station at any time? I didn't know that! Not that I would just walk up and do that on my own. But, a def to do with little kiddies!} Levi has lots of fire truck toys and several documentaries on fire fighting {most of them were made in the 80's...good shows! :/ Complete with banana clips and acid washed denim jackets and jeans!} so he led the way in, thinking he knew everything about everything!

This is Fireman Ron. He seemed excited to show us around. He was SO nice to the kids!! He showed us pretty much every inch of the truck, inside and out. They have lots of gear!

And this shiny thing here is a new firetruck. Hot off the line! Hasn't been on the streets yet.

Little man making himself at home inside. I really was surprised with how much he knew about firetrucks and fire safety. He loves this stuff!!

Maggie took it all in, too. She kind of had a deer in the headlights look the whole time! She may have just been afraid that we were going to leave her there...

Two cutie patooties!

Firefighter Ron told us that not everyone gets to do this...climb up on the top of the trucks! {Not sure if he just said that to make Levi feel special, but it was nice of him to let us!}

They turned the lights on for Levi and he was paranoid they would turn the sirens on too! :-)

Ron showed Levi what happens as soon as the alarms go off and how he gets into his full gear. Very impressive!!

I want to give a shout out to Paul, who has recently become a volunteer fire fighter! You guys do awesome work and we are a family who is very thankful for you and others who put your lives on the line everyday just to keep others safe! Thank you!!

don't be jealous of my artistic abilities

Today was my first feel as the room parent for Levi's class. Oh my. All I can say is that this reaffirms my decision to NOT become a teacher. I have the utmost respect and admiration for elementary school teachers!!! I think every day should be "thank your teacher and for goodness sake, give them a high-five (or a pedicure!)" day!! ;)

So, this is Sarah and me..two coolest room parents at the school today. ;)
I have to give a little disclaimer here. Eric took this picture. When I previewed, I thought my hair looked really weird in the lighting...looked like an awkward red and my grey is popping out really bad! He called me vain. Humpf! So, I decided to keep it AND put it on the blog so I wouldn't be vain. ;)

We got there and the kids were in the pit. Adorable! Levi turned around and shot me a huge smile and said "Hi Mom." He looked SOOO big. Sad. His teacher is really sweet and expecting a baby in March! {Levi said he gets to pick the name, but when I told her that today, she laughed and said this was the first she'd heard of that!}

We started getting everything set up and the kids were bursting.with.excitement. Oh my!

Cupcakes...adorable!!

And a cute bowling game that Sarah found!! It was a hit!

We put Eric in charge of the bowling game and by the end of the hour, he was sweating to death. {Hilarious! I sat in a chair and watched my group of kids color.}

We had some time left over after the crafts were all done, so Sarah and I did some hand painting. I have zero artistic skills, so my line of kids got a pumpkin, ghost, heart or smiley face. Period. I wasn't doing any dancing fairies sitting on their unicorns or any transformers blowing the world up! Poor kids! Here is Levi's ghost...a John Deere colored ghost for Papa!! I know you will be jealous and blown away...

Today was one of those days when I was thrilled to be a SAHM and be able to hang at my boy's school. ;) Love him!!!

love, love, love

My friend, Sarah {you can like her page on Facebook - Sarah Kahl Photography} took our pictures last week. I love them! There were so many good ones, it was hard to choose! I've uploaded just a few for my faithful readers. ;)

a whole bunch of yumness!

Several people have asked for my receips from Saturday. So, here you go!!!

White Chili
(I found it on google when I typed in "easy white chili recipes". I used the one with the least amount of ingredients.)

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 (16 ounce) jar navy beans (I used Great Northern)
6 cups chicken broth
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 (7 ounce) can diced green chilies, drained
2 teaspoons cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons oregano
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or less, to taste)
sour cream (to garnish)
grated white cheddar cheese (to garnish)

Directions:
1 Combine chicken breasts, beans, broth, garlic, onions, chilies and spices in a large stock pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour, until chicken is cooked thoroughly.

2 Remove chicken and cut into bite sized pieces when slightly cooled (enough to handle.).

3 Add chicken back into the soup and simmer for about 10 minutes, until heated through.

4 Serve with sour cream and grated cheese as a garnish.

Gooey Butter Cake

Mix together:

1 box pound cake mix
2 eggs
1 stick melted butter

Spread in greased 9X13 pan.

Mix together:

(1) 8 oz cream cheese
2 eggs
1 box powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Pour on top of cake mixture. Sprinkle chopped nuts (optional). Bake at 375 for 30 minutes.

Enjoy! Let me know if anyone makes these and how you like them!!

fall festival

This weekend was my parent's annual church Fall Festival! They always do such a fantastic job and I think this was the best one yet! The weather was perfect. Last year, there was a fire ban, so my dad couldn't do his humongous bonfire! It seems like each year, they add something to the mix and this year, my Dad ordered a barrel ride for the kids. He is too much!! :-)

So, I got up on Saturday and cooked. Yes, like I used the stove AND oven. Shew! I was worn out. ;) There is always a chili cookoff and a dessert contest. I've never won. This year, I made white chili and my Grandmother's Gooey Butter Cake. I won FIRST place for the dessert!!! Yay! And there were a lot of people who told me my chili was awesome. Double yay!

Once we arrived, the kids went into automatic "play hard" action!! I rarely saw Levi at all the whole night. He was way too busy going on hay rides, riding the barrel ride, jumping on the slides, and eating 10,352 marshmallows to check in with boring ol' Mom! Maggie hung with Aunt Jenny a lot. Here they are on the first hay ride of the night.

One of the bouncy thingies...

The slide thingie...

The new barrel ride was a H.U.G.E. hit with the little kids!!! {I just hope my Dad realizes that from here on out, the grandkids will be asking for a ride all.the.time!}

Dad lighting the faar!!!

Uncle Travis tormenting Maggie and forcing her to ride with him. ;)

Maggie May

Aunt Jenny and Maggie

Best buds Levi & Griffin

Eric and Todd (Giving a big shout out to Todd who spent his Friday off work helping Eric and my Dad getting things done for the festival! Thanks, Todd!!)

Maggie, Addison and Isabella

Addison and Natalie

The little fire for the kids

The youth group off playing flag football

Here is where I sat my phone and camera down to eat and I forgot to take more pictures!! Ugh. It was such a fun night and I'm so thankful to everyone who came and help make the party a success! And a special thanks to my parents who go above and beyond just to make sure everyone has a good time. You guys rock!!

girl time

While Levi was off being a world traveler, Maggie and I had a lot of girl time. We cleaned the ceiling fans, did lots of laundry, made a trip to Target, and went to Lowe's with Daddy. (Yawn!) It was kind of pitiful to see Maggie looking around the house for Levi all weekend! She would walk into his room and just start crying. :( Needless to say, she was thrilled when he got home. So was I!!

One of the highlights of my weekend {came a close second to cleaning the ceiling fans!!} was seeing this girl...

Gretchen was in celebrating birthdays with the fam and we snuck in a little diet coke rendezvous! Kids were all in bed and we met up at McDonald's. It was 8:45pm and we were saying how tired we were!!! Oh the joys of being old mommies! ;) <3 U!!!

legos!!

My Mom has started a tradition. When each grandchild turns 5, she takes them on a trip. For the girls, that trip is to the American Girl store in Chicago. Bailey has been and next she will take on Emmy and Casey! ;) For the boys, the trip was to LegoLand in Chicago! My parents decided to take them over Fall Break. On Wednesday night, we dropped the boys off at their house with their bags packed, DS's charged and their excitement overflowing!!! Thursday morning, they were off! They ate Cracker Barrel for breakfast on the road and for lunch, they got to pick what they wanted: Sun Chips, Funyuns and chocolate milk from the gas station. LOL!! Such boys!!

Each boy got to pick out a "big" toy and two small ones. Levi couldn't wait to get back home and let Daddy help build his new treasures {Mommy's job was to be on Maggie patrol}!! He picked out a semi truck...
...a bucket truck...

...and a police helicopter.

Mommy was "allowed" to put this one together...Frankenstein. ;)

My mom posted the following pictures on Facebook.

Levi told me they all slept in bunk beds! Ha! Mom said "uh, I don't think so!"

This was a ride they went on. I love how scared to death Griffin and Levi look!

Me no likey.

Mom and Levi operating a crane. I'm sure this was way more fun than a day of shopping for her! ;)

Yuck.

I think my Dad chose the 3D movie so he could put the glasses on and sleep!

Way cool!

Papa all worn out!

I am so grateful for parents who are so involved with their grandkids! Levi and Griffin had such a great weekend. Oh, and they also got to see Dolphin Tail at the movies. Levi loved it!! Thanks Mom and Dad for making such sweet memories with our babies!