Memorial Day Weekend

Like many others, we spent our first long weekend of summer soaking up the sun and enjoying the company of family.

We kicked off the summer season by hitting the road to Big Bear Lake in Southern California.  We picked up Carter and Dax early from preschool and waited for that 3:00 p.m. bell to ring for Ethan, then we hopped in the car and jetted off to our first adventure of Summer 2017.

After all the fun of that 10 hour drive we just couldn't contain our excitement any longer and kicked off our weekend panning for treasure.  The kids each walked away with a bag full of loot, Ethan even found an arrowhead in his treasure pan!

Next we rode down Magic Mountain on bobsleds...first we had to take the chair lift up the hill and this mama was a little nervous for Ethan and Madi to be on the lift by themselves.

We ended our first day in Big Bear at the Wildlife Rescue Zoo.  This place is truly amazing, rehabbing and releasing 80% of the animals they take in.  The ones "on display" are either too imprinted to be in the wild, too hurt or are 3 strikes animals, meaning they are in jail.

Yaya surprised us by bringing out a bunch of fun and unique gifts she brought back from Disney World and Hogwarts.  Of course the Bradshaw Pipsqueaks instantly morphed into their chosen Harry Potter characters (to be quite honest, they have inhabited those alter egos ever since).

Sunday, we took a fun river boat tour of the lake.  I think next time we visit a new place like this I will start our trip with a tour and informational excursion because a lot of things were brought to our attention like hikes and fun siteseeing places that we couldn't quite fit in.  Anyway...the kids had so much fun getting to drive the boat and then hitting the beach and Fawnskin Park.  Fisher was so excited he got to participate in the beach and park outing too!!

We rounded out our weekend with quite the adventurous ride home with no AC and lots of traffic going the other direction.  But with 3 little boys to entertain us who wouldn't have an undeniably good time!

As fast as our weekend started it ended and it was back to the loads and loads of laundry and our last real week of school!!!  No matter what, we can't get this time back and I would say without a doubt every minute of our fun filled weekend was worth it!

xoxo

April Fools Day

Yesterday was April Fools, so what did we do?
Acted silly, goofy and mixed up too!!

In true Nook fashion we did it up well
With a dinner party that turned out oh so swell!!

We sported crazy glasses and giggled with delight
And just like that we celebrated with all our might!!

We had dessert for supper
Oh how our crazy mixed up dinner was totally an upper!!

Finally it was time to eat our cupcakes
And lo and behold if I didn't make a mistake!

The cake was meatloaf and the icing potato!!

It was a night of giggles, smiles and stories so tall
Happy Late April Fools Day to all!!

xoxo

Side Note:  Sunshine and warmer weather called to us this weekend!!  We are so excited and hopeful spring is finally arriving...check back in this week as we kick off our official baseball season and continue with all our fun activities!

Baseball Frenzy

Spring baseball is about to start and while my favorite game of the season is always the game where I get to bring snack, but we managed to really send our last preseason practice out in style.  We had a few practices get rained out, but since Trevor is coaching both boys again this season I wanted to come up with a fun last practice treat.  Something that we could show our appreciation for all the hard work the kiddos have been putting in so far.  So I decided what kid doesn't love a donut...especially one that looks like a baseball??!!  So I popped in to Doughboys Donuts and got busy dolling them up.

Ok, so when I say "dolled up" I obviously didn't do much but add red frosting baseball stitches the delicious treats!  I digress...

We had the privilege of watching on of our favorite littles today so I didn't want to keep them cooped up in the house all day.  I packed up a picnic and we headed to the fields to watch Ethan's team have their final practice.

But what is a day out at the fields without spending at least an hour at the park?!

As if that didn't wear them out enough, we still had one practice to go!!  Carter's little tball team is truly the epitome of herding cats!!  While Trevor and Coach Justin herded those precious 5 year olds; Ethan, Daxton, B and I continued our outdoor adventures playing catch and climbing giant hills of wood chips!!

When it was all said and done we were hot, sticky messes, but seeing the smiles on their faces makes every minute worth it!!  Love these little pipsqueaks and their crazy baseball schedules!

xoxo

Swirly Friday

Our day started out pretty early yesterday with an Ethan/Mommy breakfast date at Peg's Eggs.  Followed by him getting to spend his morning with Nonna and afternoon with Grandpa.  It's amazing to me how fast our two weeks of spring break just flew on by.

After a very long Friday at work, school and playing we decided it was time for another treat.  In an effort to not spend another evening cooped up in the house and let's face it I dole out "treats" that are things I want to do myself I loaded up the two pipsqueaks who ate their dinner and we were off to one of our fave spots...USwirl!!

We indulged on our favorites, me the tartlicious with little cheesecake bites on top and the pipsqueaks on mint and/or marshmallow with a plethora of cavity inducing treats on top!!

Not only did we get this special treat but then in walked one of our besties!  We were so excited to get to hang out with Gracie and her baby brother Lincoln...and of course I was so glad to get to see Tami!!

I think they may have had just a little too much fun...and sugar!!  Thanks Tami for hanging out with us!!

xoxo

Breakfast Cookies

Last night after my basketball games I whipped up a batch of what I'm jokingly calling Breakfast Cookies.  The recipe is actually called Chocolate Cherry Heart Smart Cookies...but they are healthy and have oatmeal so I call them delicious breakfast cookies!!

Here is the recipe we used (Source:  dixiedelightsonline.com):

Chocolate Cherry Heart Smart Cookies

1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1.5 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
6 T unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup dried cherries
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2/3 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Combine all ingredients through salt in large bowl and stir
3. Melt butter in microwave, add brown sugar and stir until smooth
4. Add sugar mixture to flour mixture and beat until well blended
5. Add cherries, vanilla and egg; beat until combined
6. Fold in chocolate
7. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls 2″ apart onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray
8. Bake at 350 for 12 minutes and cool until almost firm.  Move to wire rack to finish cooling

These were literally the easiest cookies to throw together consider I didn't get home until 9:30 and they were done by 10 p.m.  And I think we can all agree that the cherry/dark chocolate combo is to die for!

xoxo

Sick Day

I generally have nothing to complain about and I skip through my days feeling totally happy and content, but every now and again a flu bug knocks me down.  For as long as I remember I have subscribed to the belief that all bad things come in threes...or 24 hour stomach bugs.

Luckily (or unluckily if you see it that way) this sick day was limited to only 1 day and seems to have been short lived.

I woke up yesterday not feeling well at all and ultimately ended up praying to the toilet gods a few times in the morning.  However, I did manage to get Ethan dropped off to my awesome mother-in-law and my own mother to her doctor's appointment...even if we were 5 minutes ish late.

I did however make it my parent meeting for cheer without getting sick.

I rounded off my miserable sick day going to Ethan's basketball game, which he played fabulously.

In the infamous words of Scarlet O'Hara, "After all, tomorrow is another day!"  And I'm ever so thankful!!

xoxo

Super Bowl 51

One day per year, on Super Bowl Sunday, we celebrate all things football and all things boy.  You see, I think it's only fair to allow one day per year when the boys can just be completely immersed in all things football.  So now that the pipsqueaks are getting bigger and into the game more I caved.  Their day went something like this...

The boys picked which team they were going to root for since none of our actual teams were in the big game this year, and I dressed them accordingly.  Trevor jetted out the door to go place all the bets.  Let's face it the only praying we do on Super Bowl Sunday is that the bets hit.

This year I went a little overboard and made a ton of food.  Including chili dog bake, ham and cheese sliders, cookie dough dip and guacamole.  Thankfully Raley's cut up the veggies for me and made the Ranch.

In between lunch and kick-off we had some visitors and I wrestled with the boys trying to keep them as occupied as possible.  Trevor took Ethan in the backyard to play catch but the other two followed not long after and it ruined the quick game of pick-up backyard football.  

And then finally it was time for the coup de gras...KICK OFF!!  We hosted a very small and family only (Tyrone is family) party this year.  Ethan is so into sports and especially the big game that he was fully immersed in all things football.  Cart is finally old enough to not require constant supervision and sweet little Dax spent a lot of time watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in his room and then finally fell asleep on Ethan's bed.  I think everyone enjoyed the evening immensely.

I just want to say that Trevor is such an amazing father and husband so he definitely deserves a day devoted to all things football and man-ish.  Maybe next year I will take the kids out of the house for a bit so he can enjoy pre-game without boys yelling constantly.

Whew...until next year!!

xoxo