Monday, August 26, 2013

A Monster of a Week and A Cookie to Coordinate

This past week was my first FULL week back with kids and it was a MONSTER of a week.  I teach 6 classes and each class meets 5 times a week so that means prepping, grading, etc. for THIRTY class periods.  It's going to be an adjustment, but I LOVE all the kids this year and am really looking forward to the consistency of seeing them all every day (last year we had a schedule where I saw each class 4 times a week and I taught 5 classes).  Anyway... here are some Instagram photos from the last week. 

Saturday morning walk...


I was going through my camera roll on my phone and about died when I saw this pic... Luke snapped it of his "floating cup", but he must have hung my phone over the FULL sink to do it.  EEEK!

 Saturday afternoon I stayed home and worked on some projects while Dave took Luke to swimming lessons :)

 They ran some errands at WalMart and texted me this pic :)
Happy! Happy! Happy!


If you read my bow post you saw this pic, but we took some pictures of Griffin sporting her adorable new bib from Kelly Beth.



Mason is LOVING puzzles right now and here he is using a piece to "fill up" one of his monster trucks.

Griffin is really starting to grab for and interact with her play mat - so cute!

She turned 4 months old and we donned a cupcake bib and dove right in to rice cereal.  So far she's pretty indifferent to the whole thing.

Saturday afternoon I couldn't find Mason (which can be SUPER dangerous - hahaha), but found him laying under Griffin's crib hoarding pacis...
 I'm working on a super cute blog design for a girl... loving it so far...

Wrestle Mania 24/7 at my house...

She has officially found her thumb.

Saturday night Sheaffer and Carter came over to play and I took zero pictures.  Probably because Sheaffer and I were too busy chasing Mason, laughing and eating leftovers (yes... I'm the super classy host who feeds my guests leftover pulled pork) :)

After they left, Luke decided he HAD to have popcorn.  He's had a bag almost every night and the thrill of watching it pop has yet to wear off :)

Sunday morning Miss G was all smiles...

... and she sported a super cute little outfit to Church.


Church and Sunday school WEARS US OUT!


Sunday afternoon Dave took Luke to the Country Club to putt:

... and I packed up a "manly diaper bag" for DAve to take on a day of errands he had planned for Monday.

We were all out of the house before 7 am on Monday.  Luke and I headed to school and Dave headed to the DMV to renew his license.  I'm not sure if it's like this everywhere, but people start lining up at our local DMV HOURS before it opens.  Apparently the average wait is something like 5 hours.   Thankfully Dave was in and out in under 3. :(

Dave dropped by MCA with the kiddos to bring me an iced tea (BEST HUSBAND EVER!) and then it was off to the pediatrician.  I'll do an update with Griffin's stats this week, but she's definitely not as big as I thought she would be!

She had a super fussy afternoon, but after a dose of Tylenol was feeling ready to head to Miss Presley's third birthday party.  She was looking super cute in her new Fall Matilda Jane outfit :)

 The party was the cutest. thing. ever. and got me excited thinking about planning girl parties in the future.  I mean seriously...

Lori had been telling about Olivia's case of "sass" and honestly, I didn't really believe her.  I'd only ever seen Olivia be DARLING And so when I saw the 'tude I was CRACKING UP!


While we were at the party, the boys hit up McDonalds for some burgers and playtime. Dave decided to head home when Mason wanted to eat a chicken nugget that he found inside the slide.  Gross.
Monday night the boys shared some popcorn...

.... and Griffin was happy to be naked and swaddled after a busy day.

 Tuesday morning I was SUPER Excited to see that I was tagged in an awesome pic on Instagram!  I designed a logo for the cutest, sister-owned, coffee shop and they got their new sleeves in! YAY!


A new fall shirt came in and we are LOVING it.  We need to grow into it a bit, but so adorable!

Tickle wars...

 Tuesday morning Dave texted me this pic of our sweet girl...

... and that night Luke and I read a few chapters in a book from when I was little. :)

 Wednesday morning I was about to pull out when Mason came running to the van yelling, "Mommy... I kiss you!"  #meltmyheart

Then Dave texted me this picture of Mason and Griffin later that morning ready to head to Miss Lisa's...

That night I got some extra snuggles from my girly...

... and put her in my FAVORITE gown :)

Thursday marked ONE YEAR since I found out about Griffin :)  Here's a screen shot of some texts with Shay from that morning...

Shay officially named Griffin on the day I found out about her! :)

And here we are ONE YEAR later!  Crazy, right?!?!! From two little pink lines to this...

Thursday I wore this dress from GAP and must have been asked 400 times about my "MCA" dress.  Our colors are blue and gold and I was unintentionally sporting some SERIOUS school spirit.

Thursday was also my day for carpool duty...

... and while grading SUPER late Thursday night this little "ninja" made me smile :)

Thursday after the sitter's Mason was telling Griffin all about Hot Wheels cars...

Friday morning this little bit ALMOST came to school with me. #cuteststowawayever

I was sporting some SERIOUS statement on Friday as well :)

 Friday night Luke decided to stamp on his face (what?!?!?!)  

and Griffin chowed down on some rice cereal.

Friday was a hard one (a former student of mine passed away), so I got this little girl out of her bed for some extra snuggles.

Saturday morning Mason (in mismatched jammies that he INSISTED on wearing), spent some time on the timeout carpet after he dumped hand sanitizer all over my desk and floor in the office.

We got a cute new table for the kitchen and the boys LOVE it!

Griffin was PUMPED about a trip to Hobby Lobby with me :)


The fall aisle is her happy place just like her mama :)

While we were at Hobby Lobby Dave texted me this picture of Luke at his last swimming lesson of the semester.  He has LOVED it!!!

Saturday Griffin sported an adorable new patriotic bow from my aunt (I'm Canadian... )

And Gibi and Haha came over to hang with us for a bit...


Sunday was promotion Sunday at church and we were all lookin' a little "rough" by the time we got home... 


We changed clothes...

... ate lunch...

... and were ready for naps.

I spent the afternoon working on Slightly Askew projects...

... and finishing up lesson plans and grading.

We were heading out to Mark and Diana's when Dave saw this kid struggling with a table.  I was cracking up because he got out of the car to carry it for him... but the kid was bigger than Dave :)

At Mark and Diana's Luke was re-united with Lady Gaga the cat (I REFUSE to call her Flip... she will always be Lady Gaga to me!)

and the boys played outside (under their AWESOME tree) with Motley...

Mason played "dentist" (SCARY!)

and I got WAAAAAAAAY too excited about ordering Halloween plates from pottery barn kids. 
So... for surviving that MONSTER of a post you deserve a treat. :)  So here's a recipe for my family's FAVORITE cookie.  We can't survive the week without them.  They're flourless and are DELISH with some raisins thrown into the mix as well.   They're super easy and I probably make them about twice a month.  My kids love them, Dave loves them and I love them!


Monster Cookies
Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 12 oz jar of creamy PB (that's a cup and a half if you have a big jar in your pantry like me)
- 1 stick of softened butter (I use margarine)
- 1/2 cup M&Ms
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup or so of raisins
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 4 1/2 cups quick cooking oatmeal (not instant)

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2) In a large bowl, combine the eggs and sugars.  Mix well. (I don't use my stand mixer... just a wooden spoon).  Add the salt, vanilla, peanut butter and butter.  Mix well.  Stir in the M&Ms, chocolate chips, raisins, baking soda and oatmeal.  Drop by tablespoons onto cookie sheets.

3) Bake for about 8-10 mins. I usually do 9 and they seem "gooey" when they come out, but they're PERFECT once they cool.

4) Leave them on the cookie sheets for a few minutes and then move them to a cooling rack


5 comments :

  1. Beautiful photos of your lovely family! I loved catching up on your last couple weeks! Cute Halloween dishes. Will have to try those monster cookies!
    www.floralandfudge.blogspot.com

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  2. Love your posts and your kids are just way too cute!!! Those Monster cookies sound delish, going to have to make some!!!

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  3. I came across your blog through Mix and Match Mama! You have such a beautiful family! You also appear to have endless amounts of energy being a teacher and mama of three kiddos. I am amazed and inspired!!!

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  4. Hi Andrea, made these cookies tonight and they are great! Hard to stop at just one, or two, or three! Did you soften the butter a lot --to almost melted? I had trouble mixing in the stick of butter by hand.
    Also, how long do you leave the cookies on the tray after they come out of the oven? Mine were super gooey after 9 minutes in the oven and I needed to let them rest for almost 10 minutes before they could be removed in one piece. My oven may run cooler than yours, so they may have just needed to be cooked longer, but just wanted to check for a guideline. Thanks!! Katie

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  5. Made these cookies today as a fun snowy day treat! They are SO good! Thanks for sharing!

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