Wow! It's been forever!

I can't believe I didn't post all summer! Well, it's been quite the summer. I feel like I only had a week where I wasn't working this summer. Wait, I did only have one week off. And that was right after I posted about Apple. To put it in perspective, in June I worked about 150 hours, then in July I did about 350 hours. The big finale was August where I worked 772 hours. I only had one day off for the entire month of August! My last day off was August 26, and I'm patiently waiting for my next day off, September 6.

Can you believe that on September 7, Brett and I will have been married for 18 years. As of September 6, we will have been together for 22 years. Hard to believe. So looking forward to going off for the night the following weekend for some alone time together. We're hoping to go to Fort Benton.

I so wish I had something new to share craft-wise, but because I have had such a busy summer working there is nothing new. The only thing I'm looking forward to is the Stampin' Up! order I am going to place next week! Happy Anniversary to me! Brett got his anniversary gift ages ago: Apple. Lucky Brett! Ha!

I have been working on my food stockpile (Marcy- you will appreciate that!). I have been adding to my cereal stockpile. We only had about 25 boxes, so I was glad that the sales hit! I know in the past week I got more than 20 boxes. I forgot to take a picture but I'll explain my latest Smith's trip.

2 cantaloupes: each nearly 4 pounds, 0.25 per pound (1.81)
7 navel oranges: $1.09 per pound (4.57)
loaf of french bread: $1.00
10 boxes Betty Crocker Fruit chews: $1 a box after coupons and store promotions
10 boxes Hamburger Helper
10 boxes cereal (6 boxes Fruity Cheerios, 4 boxes Cinnamon Toast Crunch)
20 bottles Sobe Life Water

Total: 36.55!!

The manager checked me out and he had to take a double take on my total! Loved it!

Ok, hopefully I get to post again soon, because I took some great pics this summer that are still on my camera!

That darn dog!

Hmmmm, you may be wondering what all these pictures have in common?? Well, that adorable beast of a dog, Apple, gets into many, many things. A few days ago while the boys and I were out doing our errands, we left Apple out in the house. We do this a lot, and just close the kitchen gates. Normally, she finds something in the living room to occupy her time, such as daycare toys, magazines, or Kleenex. On this particular day, we left her for a little while and when the boys and I walked into the house we found her in the kitchen! So, we figured she now could get over the smaller gate. Great. Then I looked at what she was doing. She was eating the trail mix. She had ripped open the brand new package and was eating away. I was pretty worried because of the raisins in the mix. So, I grabbed the rest of the bag from her and shooed her outside while I called Brett. After talking to Brett, I called our vet to find out what we needed to do about this situation. The vet tech called me back and told me to have her drink hydrogen peroxide until she vomited everything in her stomach. We were lucky she said because she hadn't had time to digest anything yet. So, off to the backyard I went and forced that dog to swallow the vile liquid. She did what she was supposed to do and doesn't seem to be any worse for the whole episode. I also realized that she had eaten many, many crayons while we were gone too. So, I have to say that she is worse than a baby, but maybe only because we leave her alone at times and I would never do that with a baby. Anyway, now we moved the daycare shelves in front of the smaller gate, and I am thinking of buying a second gate to put on top of the gate in the front doorway. Do you think she'll get any better? I'd say not, because yesterday I left out a brand new book (again) on the couch and came home to several pages ripped out. Ugh, she's lucky she's so cute............

It's lunchtime!

Can you believe that I have started making lunches for my guys again?? I worked so hard to get them all to be independent and now I'm doing it for them. I must really love them, huh? Well, I know that they are all happy with what I am sending them off with in the mornings. Maybe it's because they aren't having to make them, or maybe they are enjoying a little healthier food. Whatever the cause it's a lot of fun.

I have been researching "bento" lunches, and while I am not making anyone here a traditional Japanese lunch I can make their lunches slightly decorative and put in some yummy foods for them.

I bought several different types of containers for them to carry their new lunches in. My favorite was one I found on the bay that is just like a lunchbox I took to school in 5th or 6th grade! I loved that lunchbox, and my mom told me last week that someone stole it and that's why we don't still have it! Can you believe that? I hope that person enjoyed taking their lunch in my lunchbox! Anyway, it's made by Tupperware and I couldn't resist. Mine from years ago was red, but this one is brown. I asked Mitch if he wanted to use it, and at first he said no. So, I didn't push the issue. Well, he found out what types of foods I had been putting in the other guys lunches and decided that he wanted one too. I have a feeling that he thought I was making a traditional bento for the other guys and he didn't want any of the rice and Japanese foods. He did let me know that one of his friends thought his lunchbox was "ghetto", but he told him that his lunchbox was awesome!

I did find out from Kurt that some of his friends think it's pretty cool that I'm making his lunch. The pictures show some of what I have been putting in their lunches. I know that Mitch's favorite part is the cheese!!

I don't think I actually got a picture yet of one of Brett's bentos, but these pictures are Mitch's on top, and two different bentos that Kurt has taken on different days. The two bottom containers have a removable ice pack that helps to keep all foods cold.

Top lunch: pudding, caprisun, smucker uncrustable, assorted cookies, cheese, apples, oranges, cantaloupe

Middle lunch: apples, oranges, cantaloupe, summer sausage, cheese, crackers, dove chocolates

Bottom lunch: cantaloupe, black grapes, oranges, apples, crackers, cheese, summer sausage.

Mother's Day cards

For the Mother's Day cards I made this year I chose to use some Sugar Nellie stamps. They are sooo adorable. I just love to color using my Copic markers. The colors are so vibrant and blend so nicely. I was so happy when my mom received her card and told me an interesting tidbit. See, years ago when I was a little girl my mom had painted a picture of this little blond-haired girl. I just recently received this picture from my mom and dad when Brett came home from visiting in Michigan in March. The box had all sorts of paraphernalia from my senior year in high school and earlier. Well, my mom was so excited to tell me that the little girl I colored reminded her of the little girl she painted and she felt it was the perfect touch to her mother's day card. So, I know what stamps will mean the most to my mom! Anyway, I wanted to share my mom's painting and my card.

Why won't they play with me??

I caught several pictures this day of the dogs trying to get along. Bug and Gnat tolerate Apple if she is laying down somewhere, but once she starts jumping around they get upset. I don't get it, who could resist that sweet, sad face, right? Well, she does get crazy at times, but I'm wondering does Apple deserve that snarling chihuahua in her face? Maybe, maybe not. You'd have to be here to witness how Apple doesn't stop until she's done or I put the puppy girls away in Kurt's room to get away from her.

Skittles taste the rainbow

Well, it's time again for Kurt's ever changing band colors on his braces. He went in on the 12th of May and had no idea what colors he wanted this time. So, he let Stephanie the hygienist choose for him and I love what she did! Very cool job of making his teeth colorful. I told him he needs to start thinking of what the next colors are going to be when he goes in at the end of June, because those colors will be in his senior pictures.

Easter

I know I'm posting this late, but better late than never, right?? This past Easter we had little Nathalia over because mom was working. So, I had Nati and Mitch color our Easter eggs. I had them all set up in the living room working on individual trays and they each colored half a dozen eggs. On Easter morning I turned Mitch's eggs into devilled eggs, yummy! Even Nati tried some of an egg!! You can tell that they each have their own style on coloring eggs. Mitch tends to be more of a Nirvana fan of egg coloring, hence the "x" eyes and "u" squiggled mouth. Nati's are more colorful. I'd say that they all turned out fantastic!

Then Nati and I tried out hand at making some cake balls. Yummy! If you haven't tried them you need to check out Bakerella's blog and try to make some. Incredible! Even though ours are no where near as fancy as her's, they tasted great!

I also wanted to show that we all got Easter baskets, can you believe that peeking out of Brett's basket there were items for Apple?? This dog is more spoiled than mine are!