Guess what came in the mail today?!?!?!

So I won't lie or candy coat it I have been anxiously driving home everyday in hopes that my PIF would be meeting me at the door. I never gave up hope but I was starting to wonder about this "Mandee standard time" as I checked it day after day uneventfully. Well the "PIF prize watch" is officially over. I got home today and what was on my porch but the beautiful sight of a package. I was so excited as I opened it up. I know many of you out there would love to know what some of Mandee's favorite things are. Here is what the package included and an explanation of why they were included by the wonderful Mandee herself:

1. Notebook; to use as a journal, recipe book, a secretary, "calling" keeper, funny things your kids say journal, pregnancy journal (on a personal note this one in NO way applies to me)... I have at least 10 of these stashed all over the house.

2. Magazine; because nothing is better than sitting down to lunch (while the kids are napping) and enjoying a magazine.

3. A delicious cupcake from Dear Lizzie's a local super cute boutique/bistro,which is totally overpriced, but still a place that I love to stop in and grab a cup of soup or a cute cupcake for a friends birthday or a "just thinking about cha" moment.

4. $1; stop by your local gas station or drive thought and treat yourself to your favorite drink while running errands, or being the kids taxi. Sometimes it's the one thing that gets me through my day... because there is nothing like a Diet Coke on the rocks!

5. A pumpkin spice candle; because it's cozy, and it makes me happy.

The last thing included in the box that I am passing on to all my readers (yes that is all 3-6 of you that actually read my blog) is a really simple recipe that sounds good and best of all EASY.

Super Fast and Super Easy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 box spice cake mix

1 small can pumpkin

1 small bag chocolate chips

mix all ingredients together bake at 350 for 12 min (or longer depending on oven)

Doesn't that sound easy and it is something that I would actually feel ok about my kids helping me with. I know it sounds mean but for the most part, I have no patience having my kids cook with me. I know it is very picturesque to have your kids measuring flour and all laughing together as it spills all over you, the kids and the floor but I really am not into that at all. Jeremy is so patient he is always letting them crack the eggs into the cookie dough and stuff like that but as for me I will pass on that activity.

Thank you Mandee for sending me this fun package. I loved your favorite things and many of them are my favorites as well. I hope those who have won my PIF enjoy their stuff as much as I LOVE mine. You made my day, heck you made my week!!!

On a side note: I have tried 4 times to put spaces inbetween some of the paragraphs and the list of goodies I got. I hate when my posts look all squished. I have no idea what is going wrong with my post today. Sorry I hope it doesn't bug you too much that it is all squished together I tried my best to fix it.

Drum roll please....

The winners are:

1. Jill
2. Danielle
3. My mother (can you believe it???)

I hope you all are excited to win and "PIF" I had lots of fun trying to think of what I should send you all, and have narrowed it down to one of two options (who would have thought that I could have come up with two options?!?!) Option one is a set of five personalized embroidered burp clothes I don't think any of these ladies are expecting (anyone want to announce anything?) but being LDS there is a good chance that you have a sister, friend, cousin, or daughter who is. If you chose this option then let me know what name you would like on the burp clothe and what kind of image you would like. I have access to a super fancy computerized embroidery machine at my high school so I promise you are not relying on my very limited sewing skills. The other option is some of my VERY awesome homemade cookies in a cute clear cookie jar with vinyl lettering across it saying "mom's bribes" or "grandma's bribes" if you would prefer. I think either would be cute but you decide which you would prefer. Please email your preferences and your address so I can get busy making your prize and ship it out in a timely manner.

clementfam97@sbcglobal.net

Winners have been randomly chosen...

I know it is too early to announce anything but the kids have helped me randomly draw three names as our winners. I am so excited to post who has won and what they have won. I know I had said that I would wait until 11:59 pm but... I don't think I will have any late entries. I guess to be fair I will hold off to see if anyone comments last minute but if not I will be announcing our winners at midnight my time (I guess it is not really Eliza standard time that would be Central time for those who don't know which time zone I am in). If I do get last minute entries I will just draw again. Hold on to your seats folks we are only about 5 1/2 hours away.

I have won a "major award"!!!!

As most of you all know the very adorable Mandee Grant picked me as one of her extremely lucky Pay It Forward (PIF) winners. I was so shocked when I found out. I got to work and had to go into a very long explanation of this amazing blog PIF that I had won with a bunch of people who didn't even know what a blog was. I think they were impressed because everyday they ask, "did you get it yet?" I feel like the dad from the movie Christmas Story. I have won a "major award". Well I did agree that if I won I would gladly PIF just as Mandee herself had done. So here goes the rules and legal stuff (I have always wanted to allude to legal stuff) I have taken these rules from our cousin Jocelyn's blog but have tweaked them slightly to make them my own.

1. I promise to make 3 lucky comment makers a handmade gift as soon as I get around to it (with in a two week time period)

2. Comment makers must have a blog and be willing to PAY IT FORWARD if they win.

3. I will choose 3 winners randomly, based on a one entry per person rule.

4. There is NO possibility I will give the winners a little choice of what they may want. (I wish I could offer a choice but really my best talents can't be shipped so you will just have to take the one thing I do well and can send you)

5. Comments must be a little interesting to read....I'm not gonna count a "count me in" comment. Give me a little something funny, something new I may not know about you...I'm talking quality information. Maybe why you would like to Pay it Forward...or how you feel about the challenge all together. If you have been lurking around my blog and I don't know you please make yourselves known. I would love to get to know you, or see your blog too. An introduction would be FANTASTIC.

6. I know most of you are related to me but that doesn't mean you shouldn't enter I think you will still like what I am giving away and the drawing will be completely random so your chances are no better or worse. (This one is for my mom who doesn't think she should enter because we are related)

7. A special rule for my brother Carl and sisters Sarah and Clare: START A BLOG you might win something cool!!!!

8. Now for the time line. All comments left before Friday, September 28th at 11:59 pm will be counted and I will announce the winners Saturday morning. Good luck everyone.

On a personal note I will feel really stupid if I get my typical 3-6 comments. Please don't let me feel stupid you 3-6 people who actually read my blog... tell your friends!

Let the commenting begin...

The best 3 year old birthday party ever!!

As promised I am reporting on our awesome time in Lubbock last weekend. We had such a blast and must start off by thanking Garth and Brooke Thomas for being such great hosts. We went to Lubbock because Garth Jr. was turning three and we wanted to be at his birthday party to help him celebrate. I am in the habit of: A. not doing birthday parties until my kids REALLY know when their birthday is and know if we didn't have a party for them, and B. Not spending much more that about $20 for the whole shebang. The Thomas family apparently are not on the same party page as I am. Let's just say there was really no need to go to any county fair after this party. There was a great cook out (around these parts you can't call anything a BBQ unless it involves brisket), horse back ridding, a huge fabulous water slide, a bounce house, and a great little swing set/sand box combo. On top of it all the entire ward was invited and I would guess there were at least 100 people there. It was a blast!! I am feeling a little bit guilty about Brooke's last birthday party which included a 1/2 price belated Valentine's Day cake (Brooke's birthday in February 18th), 75% off Valentine's Day decorations and one guest. We keep things simple. Thanks so much for the great time Thomas family it was great!

Happy International Day of Peace

Today at Caprock High School some of my students were involved in a neat project. You might not have realized it but today was the International Day of Peace. Some of the English teachers and art teachers got together to join in on a national project called "Pinwheels for Peace". The students decorated with design and words over 1,100 pinwheels that were stuck in the ground. The thought behind this project was to send out messages of peace and acceptance into the wind through these pinwheels. Our school was one of many through out the county participating in this project. Those who started it estimated that more that 1.5 million pinwheels would be made and displayed today. The teachers stressed that this in not a political campaign just a campaign of accepting one another and showing peace and harmony to everyone. Everything culminated into a very nice display. As I looked around at all the pinwheels I thought of childhood in general and the innocents and child like love that all very small children are born with.
The last class I interpret for is an art class and we were going out to the pinwheels to dismantle it all. I went ahead and picked up Brooke early so she could go out with us and see it all before it had to be taken down. She loved it! She was beaming from ear to ear as we walked around the display. The teachers involved were so sweet to Brooke and let her pick out her favorite pinwheel. They then gave me a HUGE stack of the left over pinwheel papers so we could make a bunch at home. This weekend we are going to be making as many as we can and then for family home evening we are going to surprise one of the families in our ward by sticking them all in their lawn. The kids are so excited to give them a big surprise come Tuesday morning. Happy Peace Day everyone!!

Blogger to do list...

I feel like I am slacking. I have become a little obsessed with blogging and now seem to keep a running list of things that I NEED to blog about. I am just about to wake up kids for school and go to work so don't have time this morning to get my blogging done but I felt like if I put it all down in a list I will be committed to getting it all done. Here is the list and my promise to you of upcoming blogs:

1. Our big Lubbock trip last weekend (so much fun and lots of pictures!!)

2. If you didn't know I won Mandee's big pay it forward give away. I have not been avoiding my obligation to now post and pay it forward I just thought it would be fun to wait until I got my awesome box of favs that she is sending that way I can post pictures and start my own little P.I.F. I really am excited to post this one but honestly the pressure is on. I don't want to disappoint. Keep checking the blog I think this one will go up Sunday because I am hoping to get my box on Sat. Mandee said she was sending out her stuff by Wednesday (she also said that Mandee standard time runs any where from 15 min to 3 days late hahahahaha isn't she so funny??)

3. We are still debating going to our big county fair on Wednesday night. If we go of course it just adds to this list.

4. Our ward has a HUGE community event this Saturday that we are hosting and I am baking like crazy for it. I am sure I will have a post on this too. Geez I am exhausted thinking about it all.

I promise to get it all done just give me a day or two. Wow now I need to get to my task at hand and wake up my 3 little sleepy heads have a great day!

CHECK IT OUT!!!

Jacob has been wanting to start his own blog. We finally got around to it this afternoon and he would like everyone to check it out! I have link on my list of blogs we go to.

Jake's challenge--the update...

For those of you who read my previous post about the "hillbilly golf" challenge I have that promised link ready for your viewing pleasure. The segment aired last night at 10 and even though we had it all set to record Jake just couldn't go to sleep in anticipation. I let him fake on again/off again sleep until 10:20 then he heard the t.v. announce his segment so he was allowed to come and watch it for himself. He was beaming through the whole deal. I can't tell you how proud he was for winning. Here is the link to the sports page on the t.v. website. You will have to find the button that says "I beat Brad-Hillbilly golf". I need to go wake up a VERY sleepy boy for school. Wish me luck!

http://myhighplains.com/content/sports

yummy...

Tonight for Family Home Evening we made some of our family's favorite cookies. I thought I would pass along the recipe for anyone interested. I love this recipe because it is so fast and I have NEVER messed it up!!

Cranberry-White Chocolate Cookies

Makes about 2 dozen large cookies

2 1/2 C. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. balking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. baking soda

1/2 C. butter (softened)

1 1/2 C. sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 C. white chocolate chips

6 oz. dried cranberries

zest of one orange (optional but nice if you have an orange laying around)

combine: flour and next 3 ingredients; set aside.

beat: butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add sugar, beating well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Add orange zest.

add: flour mixture to butter mixture gradually, beating at low speed until blended. Stir in white chocolate chips and cranberries.

roll: dough into large balls and place on lightly greased baking sheet. cookies don't spread much so you really don't need to allow too much room between cookies.

bake: at 350 for 10-12 mins. or until lightly browned on bottom. Cookies are very lightly colored when cooked they never really "brown".

** I have tried this recipe with splenda instead of sugar and I really liked they way they turned out. They were more like a dense scone but still VERY tasty. With all these cranberries in them I like to consider them a health food. ENJOY!!

Another post!!!

I know it's almost unheard of, me posting so often in the same week I am really going to keep you all on your toes. You will never know if I am going to keep Mitt up for two months or post 4 times in a week. We had such a fun day today I felt like making a little slide show. Today the kids and I went to a "teddy bear clinic" at our local children's hospital. As we arrived and signed in each child got a backpack filled with goodies and then went around to several booths that had different freebies (I LOVE FREEBIES). Every child was also fitted with a new FREE bike helmet. After the booths we took our dolls and bears to a clinic to get checked out. First stop was the triage nurse then on to a doctor who ordered any further testing or lab work. We then went to the appropriate test or lab and I am afraid all three or our stuffed animals ended up in surgery. We got their broken bones taken care of then it was off to the pharmacy to fill their prescriptions. All the nurses and doctors were so great! They spent tons of time with the kids making sure they understood what their "babies" needed and explaining what they were doing. In the parking lot they had the fire department with a mobile home that they filled with smoke to show kids how to get out safe. We also got to check out the ambulance and lifestar helicopter. What a great FREE day it was. As we were leaving Jake said he wants to go again next year to see what they are giving away. I am a little embarrassed to say he gets that from me. I am all about the community free/cheap things around here. I took lots of pictures and recommend this event to any of my fellow Amarillians (sp?) next year.

A day at the park

A couple of weeks ago the local t.v. sports guy started asking for people to email him with challenges. He was up for any kind of challenge (sports, board games, foot race, bingo what ever). He would choose a challenge to accept then come to you with a film crew and capture the challenge for all to see. When Jake heard this throw down he was all over it. He begged me to email Brad Frailick to challenge him to a little one on one "hillbilly golf". I went ahead and emailed him and later heard back from him that he was very interested even though he had no idea what "hillbilly golf" was. I sent him a link to the wikipedia definition and he set up a good day and time to meet us. Today was the big day and so I packed up the four kids and we meet Brad and his camera man at our favorite park this evening for the big challenge. It was so much fun for Jake!! I was nervous that Jake would get a little emotional if he didn't win so I kept prompting him about being a good sport. I was very proud of Jake (there were no tears shed at anytime). The segment will air on Monday night and they said that there will be a link on their website for people to watch the edited version of the challenge. I don't want to spoil the outcome so I will include the link in a later blog for all to view. Here are some pictures and a short video we took tonight. Enjoy!

I am now starting to reconsider the whole park trip with the kids. I got out of the hospital three days ago after being admitted for lung complications and breathing problems. Perhaps playing with the kids in a giant sandbox is not "just what the doctor ordered."