Baseball and ice cream

What happens when the ice cream truck makes an appearance at tball practice?! Ha... you guessed it... practice is basically over!  Good thing we had him come at the end of practice!  It was the perfect treat for the kids... they were sooo excited. 

Oh no....

**Update:  We are not sure what happened to the birds, but I'm hoping it is not the obvious!  We found a little serpent coming out of the bird nest... we were all mortified! We used a golf club to knock down the nest and this little guy (well, about 2 foot long) fell out of the nest! This little rascal slithered his way into the bird nest much to our dismay.  We still have not figured out how he got into the nest...

Notice the bulge in the belly?!  OMG!  We were shocked!

Why I take pictures...

Borrowed from Melanie Mauer's photography page

Baby birds

We are the proud hosts of baby birds yet again this spring!  The kids are so excited to check on them daily... at least 3 or 4 times.  I'm not sure what kind of bird we have... but she has taken over our light fixture yet again in our entryway right at the front door.  We just don't have the heart to take down her nest she works so hard to make.  It is the same time as last year... it may be a fun tradition for the kids to see new baby birds each spring. 

 We have officially counted 4 babies, but I wouldn't be surprised if there is another one
tucked away inside this tiny nest. 

PS - Payton wanted to share her fruit snacks with the birds this morning, but we decided it would be better to let mama bird handle the meals! Gotta love the mind of a 3-yr-old.

Teacher Appreciation Week

RJ was super excited to get his teacher something this week.  He also gets to celebrate with the fact that he is the Star Student this week.  He gets to bring 1) a book, 2) a toy and 3) a snack to share with his classmates.  It should be a fun day and he gets to invite someone special for lunch – so Daddy will be going with him.  He also made a card for his teacher all on his own.  He decided on the picture he drew and wrote the card by himself.

He was excited to read the card to Daddy…

Of course it has a dinosaur on the front chasing Mrs. Brooks and she is yelling, Ahhhhh!

   The card reads:  “I love you. Thanks for beyeing are tesher. I like the stations. I like are school.”                     (The only word I helped him with was stations.)

Inside we are placing a gift card to Hobby Lobby.

Oreo Crunch Muffins

I’m always up for trying something new… especially when it comes to cooking and baking.  I was intrigued when I came across this recipe from The Teenage Taste – Oreo Crunch Muffins (not to mention this is a teenager coming up with her own recipes.)  They were easy to make and delicious!  I will definitely be making these more often.

My Fab Five's

My Fab Five's for this week:

1. Yes, these are left from Easter and they are delicious! I'm not a fan of jelly beans,

but you can't pry sweetarts out of my hands!! I've been munching on these things non-stop.

2. Guess this is my early Mother's Day present... I have made the switch back to the iPhone. 

Roby's phone was no longer operational... wouldn't ring, dropped calls, dropped everything so since

we were both eligibile for an upgrade, my sweet and thoughtful husband came home with this

beauty for me also - pink case and all!

3.  After 2 days of being outside at track meets all day... I thought it was just allergies again,

but doesn't seem so... I'm trying anything these days...

 4. Running is still my release. Release from everything, turn on the music and just go. 

I'm enjoying the benefits of the exercise and the feelings after, it also seems to make me

want to be all around a more healthy person. (...even healthy people eat jelly beans, right?)



5. This is by far my favorite meal, snack, comfort food... all of the above. 

First, I have never been an oatmeal fan.  But, recently I have been reading a ton of running blogs

and you wouldn't believe how much these ladies talk about their food and take pictures of their food!

Many of these ladies talk about eating oatmeal as their go-to breakfast or food to eat after a run. 

That is where I discovered the best peanut butter ever!

The company: Peanut Butter & Co. - Dark Chocolate Dreams - is out of the this world...

now I'm going to share my secret recipe...

1 packet Brown Sugar & Maple oatmeal (just what was handy at our house because hubby likes it)

1 scoop dark chocolate dreams

1 handful of chocolate cheerios

Make oatmeal as directed then add in the toppings... absolutely wonderful!

I have recently added White Chocolate Wonderful to my collection...

 tried it last night as my post-dinner snack... pretty scrumptious too!