Almost a Year

We have been in our new house almost a year and there are still empty walls. Thanks to Pinterest, I have been getting the motivation to hang something on those walls. The first room was the easiest and it was Spencer's. It has a sports theme to it because we wanted something that wasn't a fad and would last a bit longer than Toy Story or Spider Man.

These frames were hanging in his old room, but I didn't like the white. I spray painted them and added some sports themed die-cuts. I am NOT good at spray painting, but oh well.

I also found a large wooden "S" that I painted blue.

 

Here is one wall before:

 

 and after:

 

 Another before wall:

 and after:

  

The white board is actually a wipe board. Spencer loves to color and it will be useful later as a chore chart.

I am NOT a decorating guru at all. My awesome friend Becky came over and went room to room with me. We looked at what I already had, what could be re-purposed and what I needed to possibly buy.

We went shopping at Gordman's and Hobby Lobby and I think I got most of the stuff for each of the rooms. Some of the items take some work, I love crafty projects, but I am really short on time. So this might take a bit. I am hoping to have some more pictures to share later of other rooms.

Siblings: 10 Years, 10 Months

I realized when trying to order some pictures to hang on my empty walls that I do not have a photo of Madison and Spencer together. I have lots of separate ones, but not together. This was a problem. Spencer just turned 4 years old, Madison just got her braces off and she will be 15 years old in a month. I decided to take their photos.

There was a lot of drama with this. Spencer is picky about his clothes. Madison is picky about her clothes. Dear Lord, help me. After some arguing, tears, fits, me refusing to take their photos, then me deciding to take their photos, it was late. The morning sun had turned into some BRIGHT sun and I wasn't happy with the conditions. It was too late to go to the park (intended place of taking pictures), so we went outside in front of the pond.
I really do not know how I ended up with some good pictures. In fact, these make my heart melt. I'm glad I took them.

Southwest Showdown

The second football game was upon us this past weekend. My Fridays are now spent leaving work and taking food to Madison, so she can eat before the game. The band schedule is crazy on game nights.
The kids are out of school at 3:10pm. They have to be on the field ready to practice at 3:30pm. At 4:30pm they eat. Have you ever seen a band room with 225 kids at "feeding time." I will NOT say what it resembles.

Once everyone has eaten, it is time to load all of the equipment. I am amazed at how much stuff is transported to and from the football games. The instruments that won't fit in your lap are all loaded onto either a box truck or the trailer.

 

 

 The stadium was packed because this was a big game between Westmoore and Southmoore. Both schools had walloped their opponents the week before, so the game was going to be good. The weather was questionable, that is for sure. A cold front had moved in and the winds were around 40 mph and the clouds and lightning were building in the distance.
 We were the visiting team, so the band played before kickoff.
 

They sounded good, but it is hard to see them since they were facing the Westmoore crowd (they were the home team). We have three drum majors and at one point during the game and pep songs, two of them almost got blew off the stands.
The winds were blowing hard and Spencer was shivering. After the first quarter, we decided that it was time to head out. Justin and Spencer left and I stayed behind to work the band concession stand. The game was paused due to lightning and within minutes the entire stadium was in chaos and mother nature dumped rain and hail on all of the spectators. Needless to say, I GOT DRENCHED!!
After the rain stopped, we found out that the kids were shuttled back to the school, so the concession stand was packed up and we headed back. We thought the game was stopped, but they ended up finishing the game and Southmoore ended up winning (Yay)!
Next week is our first home game and the first time that we will get to see the band perform it's entire show on the marching field (yes, not the football field).

Redhawks Game

We took Spencer to his first baseball game last Friday night. I absolutely love our ballpark; there is definitely nothing minor about it. The only bad thing was that is was soooooo HOT!!

 Spencer cooled off with a raspberry snocone.

  

As we watched the game Spencer would lean over to me and say, "mama, watch. He's gonna hit the ball really far. He's awesome."

It was hilarious to listen to his commentary about the players and what they did. Every throw, slide and catch was AWE-SOME!

 

In the fifth inning, Spencer was restless, so we went to the outfield, passing the pitchers practicing along the way. Spencer played in the kid zone and I sat on the grass under the lights.
Needless to say, it was a good night. It was hot, but baseball is a summer sport. He's already talking about going back.

Parent Preview Night

Right before school started there was a Parent Preview Night for the band parents. This was our chance to watch the band perform what they had learned over the summer. It was at dusk and the pictures are great, but here are a few shots.

 This was also the first time ever they got to march on the field. They have practiced all summer on the asphalt. It was a bit different marching on the turf.

 The kids got to bring the parents on the field and WE got to try and march while holding the instrument. Here is Madi (middle) and our friends Tony (blue uniform), Quinn and Aston (green) learning how to march.

Quinn and Madison have been going to school together since 1st grade. Our families have literally grown up together.

Beer Bread

Fall is coming up and I cannot wait to cook everything fall. One of my favorite things is to bake beer bread to go along with some delicious soup or chicken and dumplings. It is moist and kinda sweet. 

Recipe:

3 Cups self rising flour

1/2 Cup sugar

 12oz beer (any kind)

 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry ingredients, add beer and stir using spoon. Do not use a mixer. The dough will become very sticky. Pour into greased loaf pan or mini pans.

For the large loaf, bake around 55 minutes. Once the top is golden brown, it is done. For the smaller loaves, start checking around 35 minutes.

When it is done, spread some butter over the top and voila, instant yummi-ness!!

Try it out, it is delish!

Good Old Fashioned Bake Sale

For the past two years Madison has been involved in confirmation classes at church. She will be confirmed on Oct. 28th. While she doesn't have any more classes to take, she has 5 projects to finish over the summer.
She finished one in July and began working on her service project as well. She decided to help a family friend who hit a really rough spot. Both parents work and have insurance, but it still wasn't enough to pay for the mounting medical bills due to her husband's poor health. Bills mounted and they used what money they had to move into a less expensive house to try and save money.

The bills kept coming and her husband eventually had to take a leave of absence from work. Red tape and paper work stalled short-term disability checks from coming in and daycare needed to be paid for their 3 year old.
Madison decided to step in. Her service project was going to be raising money to help pay for the daycare expenses, so they could use daycare money elsewhere.
Madison and I baked and baked one Saturday afternoon and her mentor, Cindy, baked from her house and we met at church the next morning to set up.

We had multiple kids of cookies, breads and cupcakes. We were ready for the two services (8:30am and 11am).
By 9:30 the table was EMPTY. OH, NO we ran out! Cindy and I looked at each other and decided that next weekend we had to bake WAAAAYYY more. It was great for Madison to see how everyday people opened their hearts and their wallets to help for a good cause. Everything was by donation only and she made about $350 the first day.

The following weekend, I planned what to bake and Madison went to Cindy's house to help her.

The beer bread I made the week before sold out fast, so I made 15 loaves this time around.

 
Madison and Cindy made cake pops and Madison was armed with the frosting tubes!

We had two tables set up for this week. She spoke to the entire congregation and explained her project and once again, everyone chipped in.

When it was all said and done, Madison raised over $800 to give to the daycare. This ended up covering about 6 weeks of daycare expenses for the family. 
I am so incredibly proud of my beautiful, intelligent and thoughtful daughter.