surprise, Surprise, SURPRISE!

3 surprises this Sunday.

..............

Matt and I went to bed before 10 last night. We slept well, and I wake up at 7am ready to go over my lesson.

I turn on the computer, open up the internet, read over my lesson from www.lds.org, and say "I got this, and I still have a few hours before church starts!"

I open up Facebook, just because, and a status date by one of Matt's aunts. Something about early church, and it being earlier tomorrow (meaning today) because of the change of time.

WAIT, WHAT?! Change of time. Is that today?! Because right now the clock reads 7:30am, but is it really 8:30?!

I search on google, and low and behold it is daylight savings. Time to get our behinds in gear!
"Matt! Get out of bed, it's daylight savings!"
Matt jumps out of bed, in a daze. He has a class to get to in less than 30 minutes, and a final presentation to give.

..............

Me and the boys arrive home a little after noon. I start to get everyone settled for lunch--ties off, shoes off, WAIT! Isn't the ACC basketball championship game supposed to be today, with my love Florida State University against the power-house University of North Carolina?

I turn on the TV (scandulous, I know) to ESPN and see WHAT?! Florida State is winning?! 
10 minutes left in the second half and FSU is up by (plus or minus) 10 points. Florida State has the possibility of winning their first ACC basketball championship. WOW.

Lunch is put on hold, I give the boys breakfast muffins.
I sit down to watch the game.
I sit there watching this, in awe, texting Matt the amazingness of what I am beholding.

And Florida State University wins. 85 to 82.

...............

At 6:45pm me and Matt put the boys in the van to go on a ride.

We head off to the Boise foothills, deciding to drive the "Robie Creek" route. The first 6 miles are great. Road is a little narrow, but it looks fine.
We say to the boys, "Do you see any snow on the mountains?"
They say, "Yes!"
We think, "That's cool," and keep driving.

Then snow is on the side of the road beside us. The road is getting wet and slushy.
But the peak is right there before us, shouldn't we just go up it and see? Yes, we should.

We are on the peak. Snow is under us. We decide to go down the other side of the mountain/foothill, but realize quickly that that is not a good idea...

... It is in fact a bad idea. Because in fact the other side of the mountain is covered in snowmelt, and very steep, and not good for us nor our van! We try to do a three-point turn, and get a little stuck.

And Isaac, see a man walk down the mountain in camo and with a gun, asks, "Is that a bad guy?!"
We say, "no."
He says, "I'm getting nervous on the snow!"
We think, we are too!

We do make it back up the other side of the peak and gratefully back-track our steeps.
Eli falls a little bit asleep, and pees in his carseat, but that's okay. At least we're not stuck on top of that foothill/mountain peak!

(And how stupid were we! Lived in Idaho for 7 freaking years, and we just decide to go up a mountain/foothill IN A VAN, basically AT NIGHT, and our boys don't even have COATS or SHOES on! WHAT? Not awesome thoughts, Matt and Shannon. Nor awesome actions. Hadn't living Idaho taught us anything?)

..............

Here are our "FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY WON THE ACC CHAMPIONSHIP!!" pictures.

They make me laugh.

"Mamma Mia!" Therapy

I've been having a weird and strange obsession. A Mamma Mia! obsession.

It started around 2 weeks ago. I saw Meryl Streep and Colin Firth on the Oscars, and got the bug. Then I heard a Mamma Mia! song on the "show tunes" channel on Pandora, and the bug became a Godzilla of a craving...

... So I borrowed it from my in-laws, and watched it with Matt.
Then the next day I watched again.
And the day after that I watched again, this time with the director's commentary.
To be honest I really don't know how many times I have watched the movie.

I think I have decided why I need to watch Mamma Mia! so often.
- I'm stressed and anxious
- I want spring
- The boys and I have been under the weather
All of the above creates a juggernaut of feelings inside. And I guess a really weird outcome of continued Mama Mia! watching.

I'll explain a little bit of the stress and anxiety:
Matt's ARMY Military orders are supposed to come in any day now. And it's driving a little crazy. I just want answers so that I can know what we need to do with the summer, what we need to do with Isaac and Kindergarten, and what we need to with moving us and our stuff across the country.

Things we know:
- We will be in South Carolina at the latest by September 9th for Matt's "Basic Officer Leadership Course."
- Matt has been selected to be an instructor at a school for ROTC cadets needing basic training. This is in Ft. Knox, KY.

Things we're not sure about:
- How long we will be in South Carolina.
- When Kindergarten begins, and what we need to do with enrolling Isaac in a school.
- If Matt is an instructor for a longtime during the summer--longer than 4 to 6 weeks, and more like 10--if we should just move to Kentucky with him and leave the beautiful Boise summers behind... forever...

About Spring. Will it just come already?! One day it snows, the next it's 60 degrees. Then it snows. Then it's 60 degrees. Then it's windy-crazy. Then it's 60 degrees. AH!

About sickness, just lots of runny noses and coughs. Eli and Titus woke up Sunday morning with pink eye, I had a ear ache earlier in the week, and I continue to have crazy afternoon head aches. BUT I do think we are all on the mend. And I do think life is going to be lots easier after this weekend, when Matt's weekend class is over and he's down to a 10 credit semester.

Life is good. I have a chocolate cake cooling. And the boys are happily playing together.



And some new food updates for the week!
The boys tried scrambled eggs and did not throw up.
Eli had a banana yesterday and today.
Titus loves spinach and cucumber sandwiches.
Isaac ate a lot of dried cranberries.
Eli ate a black bean, rice, and cheese burrito. (I had to call it a "Cafe Rio burrito" for him to eat it.)

Dood Ideas, "Healthier Breakfast for the Boys"

I've had a heck of a battle of trying to get my kids to eat a healthy, well rounded diet.  Now I've brought a lot of the issues upon myself, and most of the issues started because 1) I was in school full time till Isaac was two, 2) having two other pregnancy after my 2008 graduation, and 3) just not having a lot of "kitchen" knowledge in the first place. Each of these listed made me either lazy, too tired, throw-up sick, or scared with food.

BUT I take full responsibility of all the habits in this household. For the mama truly does set the "food tone" for everyone else.

There are a lot of things that I have worked on to change (drinks, snacks, etc.), but this post is gonna be about some of the success we've had with breakfast.

............

Oh, breakfast!
The meal that starts the day, brings the family together, and can either make you or break you.

First off, pancakes:
About two years ago I really started to try and understand and incorporate "whole grain" flour in our meals. It took a bit of work. I was trying to learn how to cook well anyway, and the "whole grain" was just another element to the already complicated task.

Baby step, by baby step, by baby step, I started to get the hang of it.
Shannon, buy "whole grain" foods! 
Wow! Never thought of that, Shannon. What a great idea!
Yeah, your son will start pooping easier, too. 
That's perfect. I need a regular pooping son(s)!

The "Honey Wheat" pancake mix from Krusteaz has been our regular staple. Quick and easy...
... Though I wanted to go one step further, and use our own foods to create a pancake mix. Maybe one with more whole grains!

Mel's Kitchen Cafe has a great pancake recipe. WAIT FOR IT! An Oatmeal Pancake mix, which can be made in bulk then used throughout the month.  The boys love 'em, and I love 'em.  It says to use 1 cup of buttermilk, but I use 3/4 cups. May have something to do with the altitude. When used with 1 cup ours turned into crapes! (And making buttermilk is easy. One tablespoon of lemon juice for every cup of milk.) Oh, and I do food process blend the oatmeal.

For the Oatmeal Pancake Mix, click here!
And me, Matt, and Titus also really like her baked oatmeal... click here!

.............

Second, breakfast muffins:
I began to make homemade muffins on a regular basis fall of 2010.  Matt had (and still has) night school, Army ROTC Physical Training in the early morning, and so a 9 or 10 o'clock "bigger" breakfast began to be our family meal time.

Since my husband is a chocolate-holic, and my sons have followed in his steps, a good chocolate-chocolate chip muffin needed to be found and made!

I got one off the internet, and it was a hit! Though the fact that it was overloaded with chocolate, then sugar, made me uneasy. I knew there was a way to make it "healthier," and by golly I was going to find a way.

I had "whole grain" knowledge...
I had "spinach in chocolate baked goods" knowledge...
I had "replace oil with applesauce" knowledge...
... Now I just needed to combine all three!

Wow, what a hit. I have made these muffins so many times, it's ridiculous.
Here's my secret:
1) I combine all the wet ingredients in a blender (including the raw spinach),
2) change the chocolate-chips to mini chocolate-chips,
3) and bake them in mini muffin tins. (In mini tins they cool lots faster, and are funner for the boys to eat.)

Here's the recipe, with the original on the left and my changes on the right

Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Muffins

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour      1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons best quality cocoa powder
3/4 superfine sugar
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips, plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling on top    3/4 cup mini chocolate chips, none for sprinkle on top
1 cup milk
1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons vegetable oil    1/3 cup applesauce, or 1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons canola oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon pur vanilla extract
2 cups packed raw, washed spinach


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Grease muffin tins.

Mix dry ingredients together in larger bowl.  Blend wet ingredients with raw spinach in a blender.  Mix dry and wet ingredients together. Spoon into greased muffin tins. In regular muffin tins bake for 20 minutes or until the muffins are dark, risen and springy. If in mini tins, bake for 10 minutes or until the muffins are dark, risen and springy.

Makes 12+ regular muffins
Makes 36 mini muffins


My boys eat these up!  But let them cool. When hot one can sorta taste the spinach. Also can be made with 1/4 cup of pureed cauliflower.
And you can also do half and half with the flour. A cup of whole wheat, 3/4 cup of white.

Anyway, here's some pictures of today's batch. And FYI, they are all gone. Matt eats a dozen by himself, and the other boys fight over the rest! Makes a mama feel good ;)

And here's one other muffin recipe, which my mother-in-law gave me. 

One of Matt's favorite growing up, and the boys really like 'em! I haven't played with it much, but I'm pretty interested to see if I can add some cauliflower or other veggies. Am I crazy? Probably. 

Oatmeal Chocolate-Chip Muffins

COMBINE:

1 cup boiling water

2/3 cup oatmeal

4 tablespoons butter 

COMBINE:

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. 

Grease muffin tins.

Add dry ingredients to wet ones. Add 1 cup chocolate chips. Remember chocolate chips will melt if wet ingredients are too warm, so let wet ingredients cool. Bake for 10 minutes. Makes about 14 muffins. 

...............

To sum up, I think I've come a LONG way from where I started. But I also have a long way to go... and that, my friends, is where you come in. 

What are some tricks, tips, recipes that work for your families breakfast? How do you try to get your family to be healthier?  I'd really love to know!

Peach and love, y'all 

Airfield Boise Love

Boise's airport is right next to the interstate, with the military airfield beside the airport.

For my air-craft-loving boys this is a huge bonus for us living here!

I still remember when Eli was just over a year, probably 15 or 16 months old, and we're were driving down the interstate and a HUGE aircraft starts it's decent/landing literally right next to us. That child was in heaven. Eyes so wide, and bliss written all over his face.

And oh! how many times we've seen A-10 fighter jets zipping through the sky! Typically 4 together--which is awesome, by the way. Isaac loves those crafts. During our first month living in Boise we were driving around town, by the interstate, and 3.5 year old Isaac starts to yell: "A-10! A-10!" Matt and I were like, "Okay... okay...," then we look up in the sky, and lo and behold A-10s! Then and there we dubbed Isaac a genius.

And the little passenger planes, and the big freight planes, and jets, and the black hawk helicopters, and the medium commercial planes. Wow, makes driving down interstate 84 (or is it 86?) enjoyable!

(On today's ride Titus was all smiles when a Southwest aircraft came landing "next" to us. "Eh-pain! Eh-pain!" was his exclamation of choice.)  

January Vacay, Part 3: "Texas"

Yeah, so it's taken me a bit to get all the blogging done from mine and Matt's "crazy-week-without-kids" vacation.

But here is the last installment... Texas. Lubbock, Texas.

Sunday, the day after Tough Mudder and Mythbusters, we woke up in a world of hurt. Every inch of our bodies seemed to have some sort of ache or bruise. We could walk, and I actually could still run, but we needed time to rest. What better place to rest than at a home with a new-born?! (I'm serious. In homes with a new-born one can just sit, and sit, and sit, and it's alright.)

Around 7:45am on Sunday we went from Trevor and Michelle's home (after some serious hugs), dropped off our lovely rental car at the rental car area at the Phoenix airport, arrived at the Phoenix airport, got through security, boarded our plane, and arrived in Lubbock, Texas and meet our new nephew, Jaxson.

Mr. Jaxson belongs to Matt's sister and brother-in-law, and he is their first baby. And oh! what a baby. A chunky monkey of happiness.

For basically 3 days we sat, ate, played games, held baby, and SLEPT. We both agree that we planned the trip perfectly, with Texas being on the end. A time of rest, relaxation, and rehabilitation.

It was great to be with Marcie and Tyson. Those two are awesome people, who make awesome food, and play am awesome FRIENDS trivia game. It was great to lay in bed till 10am, take naps whenever we needed, and sit on the couch for hours. Truly.

Something that I'm grateful I learned during the Texas installment of the trip is Matt's hopes and dreams for the future. Like what he really, Really, REALLY wants to do and be when he grows up. He really does want to have his own sound recording studio in the home, and sell recording sessions, and mix the recordings, and go to places and do sound recordings. And have it set up awesome, and have awesome gear, and market his sound recording studio as an awesome place to record. I guess he better retire as a "Full Bird Colonel" to help make this dream come true ;)

Pictures the last part of the trip:
- My bruise from Tough Mudder's blasted "Berlin Walls"
- Flat Lubbock, TX
- Baby Jaxson and family
- Us four together

We really enjoyed our week trip together. It was a lot of fun, and WOW did we do a lot! I'm not sure our next trip together will be so action packed, but hopefully it'll be just as fun. We do wish we had two more day in Phoenix with our friends, and another day or two with Marcie and Tyson. But then that would have made our trip 10 to 11 days long, and we weren't up to that... nor were our kids, nor were the Grandparents that watched our kids.

The boys did mostly well with us gone. It was a bit difficult for me leaving them, and I actually had nightmares about them the first two nights away. I think it would have been a little bit easier if I knew that Titus (19 months) and Eli (2 and a half years) understood what me and Matt were doing. 

And our next "big" trip? Well we kind of have it in our minds to go to New York, New York sometime around 2015... We shall see! 

Isaac's Busted Chinny-Chin-Chinn

Oh yes, in a house hold of boys there really is never a dull moment. And when there is a dull moment my "mommy sense" starts to tingle and let me know that something big is about to happen. 

Like yesterday early evening. 

Me and the boys are talking to my parents on Skype in the living room. Isaac is bouncing off the walls because he is full of sugar from the homemade oreos that I made the boys eat while the visiting teachers came over (hoping the homemade oreos would keep them distracted, and give us some quiet. And it worked, mostly.).

During one bouncing run Isaac comes up screaming. I tell my parents, "Oh, hold on," then go over to a very upset Isaac on the ground. 

He screams, "My chin!"

I look, instantly terrified at what I'm seeing--a wide deep cut, blood, skin. I think, He's gonna need stitches! Then yell at my parents on the computer, "I gotta call Matt!"

I call Matt, tell him to "come home right now!" (He's studying at the apartment complex club house.)

I pinch Isaac's chin together, have him walk with me to the kitchen, grab a paper towel, then use the paper towel to again pinch his chin together. 

Blood is oozing out, and the skin around the gash looks purple. I still think, He's gonna need stitches! But I don't want to freak the crying Isaac out even more, so I tell him that we should say a prayer to Heavenly Father and ask Him to help us be strong. We say the prayer, and Isaac settles down. 

Matt comes home and evaluates the situation. He determines that we could probably super-glue the skin together, and starts to go around the house to gather the necessary equipment to "super-glue a busted open chin."

I still talk to my parents while pinching Isaac chin. Isaac has stopped crying, but is still a little scared. 

Matt comes back to us with rubbing alcohol, super glue, very clean hands, and a disinfected paper cup. 

Matt wipes Isaac's chin down with the rubbing alcohol, Isaac screams, starts to cry again, and is just a little terrified about the situation. But slowly, and with some very accurate military moves, Matt is able to safely glue Isaac's chin together. 

We are all a relived! And Isaac sits and talks to his Grammie and Gramps who had watched the whole situation from their home in Bama. 

Isaac says he hit his chin on the side of the couch. I have no idea how that happened, but it did. 

And that chin of his sure is glued shut! No blood from the deep gash all last night, nor any today. Hopefully his chinny-chin-chinn stays together, and lovely. 

Nothing But "Star Wars!"

"Star Wars, nothing but Star Wars/
Give me some Star Wars/
Don't let them end!"

Anybody else know the Bill Murray "Star Wars" song from SNL? Oh man, his little jingle has been totally in my head the last month. Holy smokes, could there be a larger Star Wars obsession than what my boys have right now?! I think not.

And guess who feeds the obsession? Their grandparents. Both sets. Grammie and Gramps sent them some awesome costumes, and Nana and Mume gave them some great light sabers.

Oh wait... and Matt and I bought them a Nerf Star Wars blaster gun from Goodwill, got some clearance Star Wars shirts from Old Navy, bought other little Star Wars figures from another thrift store, and of course rented some Star Wars movies from the local Library!

So we're all guilty here.


Let me present to you some--well, a lot--of pictures from the last two weeks. Most of which have a Star Wars theme. Most are taken from Matt who was entertaining the boys while I was sick, Sick, SICK!

You'll see:
- Boy wearing costumes
- Titus obsessed with wearing underwear
- Forts in the living room
- Eli's naked bum
- Boys watching Star Wars
- Titus smeared with red lip stick
- Isaac sitting in a closet
- Boys cleaning the mirrors upstairs