First Day of School

Summer has now come to an end for us. I can't believe it went so fast! The big kids started school last Wednesday. Cheyenne started 7th grade, Natalie is in 5th grade and moved into the middle school with her sis, and Billy started kindergarten. The all had a great first day!
Both girls were very excited to start; I think mostly because it meant less time spent weeding the garden. lol After almost a week, they're both still enjoying it. Natalie just got her clarinet on Saturday and can't wait to get started in band this year. Cheyenne is playing the sax still and so far, the only complaining is about her band teacher's LONG, repetitive lectures. They've both even managed not to have any homework yet.Billy couldn't wait for school to start! He's been counting down for almost a month now. He LOVES school!!! While I was trying to hold back the tears (I still can't believe my little buddy is in kindergarten), he ran right into the school leaving me behind. He had an awesome first day, although, I was informed that he was the only kid who didn't have a snack. I make sure he has one every day now. :) He loves riding the bus and his favorite part of school, according to him, is playing either in class or at recess.

Cheyenne's Haircut

I forgot one other thing we did in our crazy week last week, we got haircuts. Cheyenne really cut hers!! She cut off 10"!! She wanted it shorter for school this year since it's been long for a couple years now, so she cut off 10 inches and donated it to Locks of Love. She was very excited to get it cut, but not so excited after it was cut. I think the hairdresser cut a little extra off and as Cheyenne's hair dried, those curls made it go up, up, up. After we got home and straightened it and played with it for a while, she was feeling better about it. And now after getting lots of compliments on it, she's liking it. Either way, I think she's beautiful! Love you Cheyenne!

Crazy week!

Since I've gotten a little flack for not posting again since I started, I'll share what kept us so busy for a while.

We've been picking raspberries and making jam and canning pickle relish. These were for Cheyenne and Natalie's 4-H projects for the fair.

Then last Monday, it was the annual Grandpa's camp-out for all the grandkids who've finished 1st grade. They had a blast!! Oh, and before they left, the girls did all the baking for their fair entries.

They got home Tuesday afternoon just in time to register for school and make it to the Cookies, Cakes, and Pies contest. Cheyenne won first place in the cakes, okay here's was the only entry, but it was still delicious. Natalie didn't place, but we all know her's won the popular vote. After the contest everyone can try all the entries and her plate was empty in seconds! ALL of the others took cookies home.

Wednesday was registering Billy for school, another trip to town and then the regular mutual and karate routine that night. I can't believe my little buddy is going to school this year, but that will be a post for a few more days.

Thursday was trying to catch up on somethings.

Friday morning we went to the fair to check out Cheyenne and Natalie's winnings. Unfortunately, we were slightly disappointed by no "special award" (better than blue) ribbons, and a red ribbon each. But 3 blue ribbons each isn't bad!!

Finally, Friday and Saturday were all day fun at our family reunion at my parents house. Another great weekend of fun, volleyball (well, the twisting my knee part wasn't so fun), lots of cousins, water fights, and the 20 ft. waterslide - which we even got the grandparents on (yes, Aunt Ann, we got Ray, Margie and Mom to go down, dad wouldn't have anything to do with it. Shaun got a great picture of the two lovely ladies going down, but I didn't think they'd appreciate me posting it here. lol)

It's been a busy week. Now we're just cramming in the last bit of fun and a little more weeding I can get out of the girls before school starts on Wednesday!

Recipe of the Week

I love to try new recipes, often times to my family's dismay, but I get bored cooking and eating the same things. Plus, I love cookbooks and can't pass up a friend's wonderful recipe. So I usually try a new recipe a week and then we rate them to see if it gets added to our list. Each recipe gets up to a five star rating.

So, here's this week's from a wonderful friend of mine:

Crockpot Cream Cheese Chicken (5 STARS!)
Ingredients:
--1 can cream-of-chicken soup
--1/2 cup chicken broth
--frozen chicken pieces
--packet of Italian salad dressing mix
--2 cloves minced garlic
--block of cream cheese (to add later)

Directions:
Put everything except for the cream cheese into the crockpot. Cook on low for 6 hours, or until the chicken is cooked through and begins to shred. Shred the chicken with two large forks, and mix in the block of cream cheese. Switch the crock to high and cook for another 30 minutes, or until the cream cheese is fully melted. Serve over pasta or rice.


Super easy and super yummy, oh, except Bill got a hold of it and he thought he'd change it up a bit. So his modified version changes the cream cheese to a can of cheddar cheese soup and a little cheddar cheese sprinkled in. It was delicious and would be great as tacos to use up the leftovers.

Thanks Ginny!!!

What's in a name?

Okay, I did it, too. I jumped on the blogging bandwagon. I couldn't resist any longer. Now hopefully, I have enough to say to make it worth it.

So what's in a name? I believe it was Shakespear who said, "A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet." So after much deliberation, "The Brown Eyes Have It" is what I came up with. And why? Because of the fact that 6 out of 8 in our family have beautiful, dark chocolate eyes. Cheyenne and I don't. The triplets are very interested in eye color lately and love to name everyone with brown eyes. Bill used to sing "My Brown Eyed Girl" to Natalie when she was a baby and then started singing it again to Chloe and Maddie. Natalie was thrilled when I found her a shirt that said, "Everyone loves a brown-eyed girl," and was even more excited when I found smaller ones for Chloe and Maddie. No one ever sings songs or raves about green eyes.

So around our house, when the battle begins of what color eyes is the best, green always gets out voted and the brown eyes have it.
(Picture was taken July 2007 in their "brown-eyed girl" shirts.)