Friday, January 27, 2012

My Husband is Pretty Cool!

It’s rare that Darren can get pictures when training. But I’ve been nagging him to and I’m glad he did! Here are some pics of what he does nearly every day either at the shoot house or with the helo. When they go out to sea on the Navy’s helo’s he can’t really take pics, but when they do ground jumps they are able to get some good shots! :)

We are proud of him and his boys think he’s the coolest thing EVER! ;)

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Locked up!

It was a typical Thursday night. I was down stairs trying to get dinner cooked and get the kids out the door to go to scouts. Then I hear a blood curdling scream upstairs. I run up thinking one of my kids is dying. Nope, just Ethan handcuffed to his bed. I just stopped, stared at him and almost started laughing. Mainly laughing at how hard he was crying over something so silly. I told him to chill. I looked for the “toy keys” and then quickly realized Ethan hadn’t used play handcuffs,  he found his dad’s real handcuffs from work. Different story.

The keys to these are on Darren’s gun belt. Where? At work with Darren in Chesapeake almost an hour away. So…… Ethan got to sit there and wait! And we didn’t make it to scouts!

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The one thing I loved the most about this was his brother Ashton never once left his side. He stayed up there with Ethan. Ate his dinner up there with Ethan and supported him. (I have to admit it was kind of nice having him handcuffed up there!)  ;)

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Dad finally got home. Came to Ethan’s rescue!

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Hopefully he learned his lesson! ???? We shall see.

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Monday, January 9, 2012

Chocolate Cake In A Mug! :)

I just realized that today is Monday. FHE!!!

Sooooo. Mad dash to get a lesson ready and a quick and easy treat! Thought I would share this super fast, easy, yummy, treat!

Chocolate Cake in a Mug

Supplies

Ingredients:

· Mug

· 4 tablespoons flour - make sure you measure it right!

· 4 tablespoons sugar

· 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

· 2 tablespoons whisked egg – (1 egg is too much, 1 egg white is too eggy, 1 yolk is too dense, but 2 tbsp. is just right!)

· 3 tablespoons milk

· 3 tablespoons oil

· 3 tablespoons chocolate chips

· splash vanilla or other flavoring - try peppermint or cinnamon

(For a fudgier version, omit egg!)

MIX!

Mix-your-ingredients

· Add all of the dry ingredients to the mug and mix.

· Add the egg and combine well. It gets pretty pasty at this point.

· Stir in milk and oil.

· Add chocolate chips* and splash of vanilla. Stir well.

*if you don't have chocolate chips, try a broken up candy bar - I can't stress how much this amps the awesomeness of your cake

· Microwave for 3 minutes in a 1000w oven, or 4 minutes in a 700w oven.

It will start to crown over the top of the mug. Don't panic! It will collapse once the heat stops.

5-minute-Chocolate-Cake

This cake is still good half an hour out of the oven. In fact, I think it gets better the longer it sits, but I can't speak to how it does after that, since there's never any left!

Sprinkle with powdered Sugar if desired!

ENJOY!

Eat-it

Dumb Lizards!

My friend has a son who “won” 3 lizards from his school class. (2 males and 1 female) Well…… They hated them, didn’t like taking care of them and gave them to me, cage and all. I knew my boys would be thrilled….. So I took them. All is fine and dandy. I get to have a container of live hopping crickets in my house that I have to feed to keep alive to feed these ‘beautiful’ lizards…… (cough cough, sense my sarcasm?)

Any way. Today I looked in the cage and this is what I saw. The 2 males biting each other's heads off! Well as a mom who is constantly breaking up fights from my own kids, I instantly reached my hand in to separate these two! It was hard! He had a locked jaw on him! I literally had to flick him to get him off!!!!

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I took Mr. Alpha Male out of the cage, not sure what to do with this bad boy. Let them both cool down. Put him back in the cage and he instantly attacked the smaller male again….. So I took him out again and threw him outside in my backyard and away he went! Good-riddens you mean Lizard! Don’t freeze your ugly green tail off!

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Poor smaller male. Look at the bruise below his eye! Ugh. What in the world did I get myself into? The life of a mom with boys! Owell. Maybe him and the female can live in peace now…… We shall see!

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Sunday, January 8, 2012

Park!

It has been CHILLY!!!! (Even if for only a couple days!) But when a warm day comes we jump on it and take full advantage! After the kids got off the bus on Friday we immediately went to Mt. Trashmore! We met Kate there with her kiddos. The sun was setting fast, so we had to soak in all that was left of a beautiful day! Kate and I did what we do best…. Talk. The kids did what they do best…. Play. And Darren did what he does best….. Take pictures, chase kids, have an anxiety attack about where all 4 of his kids are at one given moment!

It was fun!

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      Jake Running non-stop!                       Cute Paisley and Lily ♥

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♥ Love this girl! ♥

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          Parleigh….. Kate’s baby. She is beautiful!

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The kids favorite part of the park? Not the playground! The HILL! :)

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☼ Love good weather! ☼