Buster had field day today. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. Boss and Crate went with me to watch. Boss was hungry the entire time and complained that I didn't bring any snacks. Seriously, it's amazing that kid isn't obese, he can eat all the time.

Took Crate on a walk tonight. Again perfect weather.

Tomorrow is camp pre-certification day. I think the girls should learn a lot.

The house is clean. Again. All bathrooms are clean. All bedrooms are clean. All floors are clean. All laundry is washed and Pops and I will be folding it tonight. Kitchen is clean. Sheets are clean. This is a great feeling. I worked hard today to get it all done. Hopefully it'll last longer than 24 hours. Lets just say Boss and a very enjoyable time watching whatever movie he wanted today. And I didn't even care. I was on a mission that needed to be accomplished today.

Amongst the cleaning I made a dessert for enrichment tonight. Here's the recipe if you're interested.

Bake a cake according to directions. (Today I used a red velvet cake mix. I've also used a yellow cake mix and a strawberry one)
Once the cake is cooled completely break it up in pieces and put it in a big mixing bowl. Then continue to crumble it up with you hands. Make sure it's totally crumbled. Once this is done add 1 block of softened cream cheese. With your hands mix the cream cheese with the crumbled cake and form into one big ball. Place the big cake ball in the fridge for about an hour. (This can stay in the fridge for a day or two)
Remove cake ball from the fridge. Break off chunks and form into smaller (golf ball size) balls. Place balls on wax paper or on a plate.
Melt chocolate (your favorite kind and brand) on stove top or in microwave and dip the golf ball size balls in the chocolate and let harden on wax paper or plate. They turn out best when placed in the fridge for several hours to harden. To make them prettier I melted white chocolate after they were hardened and drizzled the white chocolate on the top of the balls.
This is something different and the best part is the steps can be done ahead of time or they can last in the fridge for several days.
I wish I had a picture to show.
I got the recipe from my sister, the same one who gave me the pizza dough recipe. She always makes good stuff.

Every time I look at Crate's thighs I can't believe they can be so chunky just from milk. I have to stop myself from digging in. Mmmmm, I could eat the kid. He's scrumptious.

Buster did so well on his spelling words tonight. I pray he gets 100% on his test tomorrow. I'm so glad he's the oldest. He's a great kid and very responsible. I really enjoy and feel privileged to be his mother.

Boss is so much fun. We always have the funniest conversations while he sitting on the toilet. For some reason he likes me to be in there and he always asks me the same questions. It goes like this:

Mom...what's your favorite color?
What's your favorite food?
Where's your favorite place to go?
What's your favorite thing to do?
What's your favorite hair color?
What's your favorite eye color?
What do you want to be when you grow up?

Then I have to ask him the same questions back.
After I ask the questions I always say, "Boss, I love you" and he always replies in an irritated voice as he's rolling his eyes, "you always say that."
I hope each boy always knows how much I love them.

First swim day of the year. Burr, it was cold. Why is it that kids seem to be immune to how cold the pool really is? Crate loved it and didn't even cry when the cold water hit is skin. It was nice being out in the sun. I still love my new swim suit from Mod bod.

Personal Progress for YW's tonight. I think I learned more than the girls. It's amazing how when you really ponder and search the scriptures the spirit speaks to you. You get so much more out of it. It's like dieting...when you exercise and eat right you get much greater results. This is not a new concept. Just a good reminder that the scriptures are to be more than just read.

Pops and I had a good talk about support tonight after basketball. I'm more than grateful to my counselors that their husbands are supportive while their wives serve. I hope to always be supportive to Pops in his callings.

I'm getting a back massage from Spouse as we speak. Hello...this feels great. Maybe this can become a nightly ritual.

ahhh. The dreaded spelling words. I'm counting down the days until summer. It was an afternoon full of spelling words and tears.

In the book of Moroni there are some amazing scriptures. Oh, to have faith like Moroni.

Today I'm grateful for people that are "real."

Sometimes life bites. I'm not afraid to admit that.

Sometimes kids are tiring and wearing.

Sometimes men don't think.

Sometimes...OK all the time people can't read your mind. Never mind, that's probably a good thing.

Sometimes I just want a nap...and a rich uncle.

OK really what I want is a quick vacation...a getaway with the fam. I'm directing my positive thoughts for that to happen this summer. I'm already making plans and of course they must include the beach.

Really I wouldn't trade any of my problems for any other person's problems. I did laugh a lot today. Pops always has a joke and most of the time they are funny. :)

If my memory serves me right I think my spelling words in first grade consisted of words like go, to, my, see...I'm amazed at Busters weekly spelling words. This week I had to write them down so I would remember. They are:

explosion
vision
amnesia
mission
session
visions
facial
special
gracious
official
social
commercial

Hello...I think those are a little much for first grade. I have to give the kid credit though he gets 100% about 98% for the time. Either he gets it when it comes to spelling or he has a great memory. Did I mention I'm looking forward to summer?

I made homemade pizza again tonight. Yum. I made a pesto sauce for one of the pizza's and topped it with fresh tomatoes and deli mozzarella cheese. I think that is my new favorite pizza. I should have taken a picture. I also think I must workout double tomorrow for how much I enjoyed it tonight.

Here's the recipe for the homemade pizza dough.
2 cups warm water
2 over filled teaspoons of yeast
1/2 cup sugar
Let the above ingredients sit for 1/2 hour.
Then add:
5-6 cups flour
1/2 cup oil
and a pinch of salt
Mix altogether for 10-15 minutes
Cover and let it rise in the mixing bowl for 1 hour.
Split dough in 1/2 (I always get about 4 pans worth of dough so I split it in 4ths)
Roll out to desired thickness (I've found the thinner the better)
Put rolled dough on pan and let rise on pan for at least 1 hour.
Top with desired sauce and toppings and bake at 350 for 20-25 mins for a silver pan or 25-30 for a pizza stone.

This is a fun thing to make with kids. My boys like to add their own toppings by themselves.

Crate actually ate about 8 bites of rice cereal tonight and didn't gag it up. We're making progress. I tried a bottle again of formula but he wouldn't have anything to do with that.

It cracks me up when Pops puts on a bright orange suns shirt to watch the suns game here at home. He must feel some major Suns spirit!

Late night last night. Early morning meetings. Family over for Marmie's birthday. Husband gone for 5 hours tonight for various church stuff. Tired kids. Tired mother. Going to bed hopefully by 8pm.

Wow...today I woke up feeling like a new woman. It's amazing what sleep can do for you. I went to bed at 10pm last night. Crate woke up at midnight, I fed him and the next thing I know it's 9am. Somewhere in the 7am hour the boys woke me up asking for breakfast and I told them to give me 5 more minutes and I would get out of bed. Then all of the sudden I hear Pops leaving to meet a client. He said when he got home from basketball Crate was just talking in his crib and I was sawing logs right next to him. I didn't hear a thing. Pops took Crate out and I continued to sleep on. I missed my morning workout but getting extra sleep was well worth it.

Pops left, I got out of bed and took the boys outside to start some yard work. Whine, whine, whine is all I heard. But I kept on top of them and finally after three long hours most of it was done. I was so tempted to throw in the towel and just find somebody this next week to come do it for us. It was tempting to write a check and have that be the extent of my effort. But alas it got done and the boys finally kicked themselves into gear and helped out happily. I've got to train them young since they have many years of yard work ahead of them. Pops came home just in time to get the lawnmower started for me. I had tried with all my might and couldn't do it. He messed around with it for a few minutes and finally it started up. I mowed while he edged. It's so nice to look out the back window and see green grass and trimmed bushes. I even threw on a tank top and shorts to do the yard work in...maybe not the most appropriate thing but I wanted to get some sun and boy did I. My shoulders are burnt. I can't wait for pool weather.

The rest of the day was just a hangout day. Pops needed to do some more work in the office, I let the boys watch a movie and I did laundry and picked up around here. The one nice thing about being away on the weekends is that the house stays clean since no one is here to mess it up. This was the first Saturday in several weeks maybe even months that nothing was going on and we just were here at home. It was nice.

This afternoon I tried on the swimsuit I got from Costco. OK I was completely happy, so happy in fact I ran up to Costco before they closed and bought another one. They are the Mod Bod brand suits and I know their display at Costco was ending tomorrow so I had to go today. I don't know if I've ever been so happy with a swimsuit purchase. Once my legs get tan it'll be even better.

I did the unthinkable tonight and made dinner. That's two weekend nights in a row of a regular dinner. Complete cooking was involved. Homemade mashed potatoes and grilled chicken with a salad. It was quite tasty. I still don't like cooking on the weekends but it was nice to be here together and just hang out.

Hopefully Crate will just wake up once again tonight. If this becomes a habit my life could take on a whole new meaning!