it's that time of year again....

it's that time of year again.

you know the one where nothing exciting is happening in our lives.

so i have to resort to posting pictures of our really uncool animals and telling your really unimportant things about each one of them.

i know, some of you have been waiting all year for this post and now it is here.

so without further ado {sp}, i give you:

chuck- to be honest, he is pretty darn cool. i mean who else do you know that can snore with their eyes open? breath as loud as a hibernating bear? sound like a 300 pound man {or woman} when they run thru the house? aside from all these things, he is one cool dude. plus it makes mark feel good to have another guy in the casa!

trixie- well, she is still the same nervous nelly she has always been. still loves to look nervous, pathetic and scared at all times of the day. the only difference is she now is getting a regular whipping {usually on a daily basis} from chuck. she still has her horrible licking issue and love to lick the air and hold up her left leg for pity.

fat cat- guess what! she is still matted to the hilt, well actually not too hairy as jordan took the scissors to her last week. but she still definitely doesn't have the coat of a show cat that is for sure. although she has redeemed herself lately with the announcing of not one but two mice over the last couple of months. and she did corner the second mouse {on my birthday} so mark and i could commit cold blooded murder in the kitchen with a couple of brooms.. another story for another time....

minka- has gone from being a barn kitty, to a ferrel kitty! since chucks arrival, she pretty much keeps to herself. she really only hangs out downstairs in jordan's room and on the downstairs chair {shedding hair while there, thank you minks}. oh wait, she did bring me a gift on my birthday- a dead bird! you know, these animals of mine are so thoughtful!

well folks there you have it. your yearly run down of the stupid, umm i mean awesome animals that live in our house. who eat lots of food and deposit said processed food in yard and cat box that i get to clean... i guess i should look at it as job security!

happy tuesday to you and yours. may you find the beauty in those around you and enjoy every single minute of it!

proud momma, once again....

so my jessica payton came home with this little gem today...

she too was selected as a "breakfast of champion"!

she was so excited when she opened the envelope that was address to the parents of jessica giordano..

guess reading isn't her strong suit { ha ha}

it was fine, we were in the car headed home and to be honest i already knew what it was. her teacher told me about it a week or so ago.

i was just waiting for the letter to tell jess so she could have something concrete in her hands.

she threw her hands up in the air and yelled.. "YES"!

she is an awesome girl who is good role model and leader at school. not to mention, pretty darn good grades too!

we are super proud of her and her accomplishments.

it has been an awesome feeling as both jordan and jessica were selected for such an outstanding honor this quarter at their respective schools.

way to go jp- love you , mom

jordan's holocaust project

caution- images in this post are kinda graphic

jordan has been working on this project for a couple of days and is finally done with it and so very ready to turn it in.

they are learning about the holocaust in literacy and were asked to do a project depicting various events from such a terrible event.

she chose to show how the bodies of the victims were burned in large fire pits.

she molded and created the people {and parts} as well as made everything else.

i think she did a really good job and it really taught her alot about such a horrific event in history.

so much in fact, she felt sick to her stomach as she was doing it.

even josie was very interested and kept asking her if people were really burned like that.

she couldn't believe they were and told jordan how horrible that was.

glad the two of them {as well as myself} could learn something with this project!

proud parents

this morning was the ceremony for the hermiston chamber of commerce "breakfast of champions".

all 4 of jordan's teachers were there to support her and her teacher mr. smith spoke about her and her achievements.

jordan was a little overwhelmed this morning and started her morning off in tears.

i asked her why she was crying and she told me she had no idea.

she is just like me in that aspect, i get all emotional and cry too!

she is such an awesome and deserving kid of this award.

it was awesome!

makes a momma very proud!!!!

not to mention the other recipients that were there. the place was packed with kids of all ages.

there are quite a few outstanding kids in our school district as evidenced by the huge number of people at the breakfast.

so, way to go jordan {and the other kids who were awarded} on such a wonderful achievement!

delish

first of all i know what you are thinking..

two post in one day? how can this be?

i know some of you loyal readers are already familiar with this story {via facebook} but for those of you that aren't, i shall tell it again.

okay, so it all goes back to this summer when i was feeling like i needed to do some canning.

i made about a billion batches of salsa, which i must say is awesome and we have made a gigantic dent in.

but, you see i also canned pears. after this horrible event i decided i was never going to can them again as it was-

1. a messy job
2. a lot of work
3. sticky
4. bees were swarming me
5. i don't even eat these nasty things

and to be honest the list could go on and on.

anyway, i have given several jars away thinking that mark will never eat all i canned and i am surely not going to eat those nasty pears.

well.......... mark decided to finally open one up this past weekend and much to my surprise, they are the most heavenly thing i have eaten
in, well forever.

so, i guess i will be canning those babies again this year. not to mention the fact that i'm peeved i gave so many away {just kidding}.

now i can hardly wait for summer to i can suffer again, but this time i'll know it's for a good cause! :)

i will confess to you now that i did finish off the rest of the quart yesterday afternoon with my lunch! sorry mark

house updates...

west side of the house above the garage

again west side {where mark parks the dodge}

okay, so i know i failed you the other day with the promises of a new post and updates to the house...

well, all i can say is- i did take the pictures,

they have just been on the memory card inside of my camera.

for me all it takes is a spike in temps and the sun to shine for longer than 5 minutes and i instantly think it is spring.

today i must have had spring fever BAD as i tore my kitchen apart and cleaned every nook and cranny.

{well, let's be honest with the fact that after taking all those macro shots, i found out how dirty my house really is}!

but now i give you...

fake cedar shake siding on the gables of our house! yeah

we are undecided about the porch- it is awesome, but my friend kacee saved a curb appeal for

me {on hgtv} and showed it to me,

and wow, i think we are going to do a little adding. but, what is done looks awesome!!!

so, who's getting sick of these?

jordan's spurs, you know from back in the cowgirl days!

cheese please?

money, money, money, money~ {you know that song, right?}

can you guess?


i know, you're sick and tired of all this up close crap.

i know, but guess what folks,

it's too cold outside for this girlie and to be totally honest-

there isn't anything alive to even begin to take pictures of.

so, if you want a new post, this is the stuff you get!

just kidding. feeling bad about not posting anything new and exciting lately.

well, that's cause there's nothing new and exciting to report.

well i guess i could have gone and taken pictures of our semi finished house, but i always seem to forget about it till it's dark out.

maybe tomorrow. yeah, that's right- that will for sure get ya back here to this here blog...

wow, maybe i need to go to bed, i'm starting to crack myself up!

leadership

one proud mama!

*DISCLAIMER*

if you are offended by a mother's uncontrollable pride-
i suggest you turn away NOW!

so this my friends is what i received in the mail today...

the best part was jordan had no idea.

i didn't tell her about it when i picked her up,

but what i did do was tell her to get upstairs because she was in huge trouble-

to which her reply was, really? why? what did i do?

as she rounded the corner to the kitchen, i had the note hanging on the refrigerator.

i simply pointed to it and her face lit up-

she said really? and gave me a high five.

cause you see this is a really big deal.

they only pick 2, yep that's right, 2 kids out of her entire school!

what an absolute honor for jordan and us as her parents.

we are so unbelievably proud of her and ALL her accomplishments.

so, all i have to say is...

WAY TO GO JORDAN!

U ROCK!!

one dirty girl

on sunday night josie and i read a book about a pig that makes a cake.

in the back of the book is a recipe for a cake called "piggy's poke a dotted cake".

josie asked if we could make the cake after school the next day.

well, we did and as you can see by my little one,

the batter was pretty darn good!

the cake.. well, let's just say i've tasted better.

but all that matters is we had fun doing it together.

plus, this picture was just too cute not to share.

ready to see this again-

so i've got to admit, i've had enough of winter already.

it's starting to really drive me nuts.

i long for the days of shorts and flip flops.

to smell the flowers.

mow the lawn.

sit outside until dark sets in {and i don't mean 4pm either}.

i know we can't have it without the rest of the seasons,

but i'm over it {winter that is}!

so i just figured you {like me} needed to see something bright and pretty.

i hope you and your have a wonderful sunny week!