The Force

OK....I know I have been TOTALLY SLACKIN' on the blog! Sorry people! This video is just SO funny to me. Primarily because it is totally my kids. They actually do try and "force" things all the time...even each other. Titus is convinced that he's able to "force" the windshield wipers. And just a few weeks ago, Max was holding his hands up to Titus' face and when Scott asked him what he was doing he said, "I'm trying to "force" Titus away from me!"  Gotta love boys!

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Somethings Wrong With This Picture...

For homework, Titus had to draw a picture of our ancestors arriving in America. I love that he thinks they came by plane :) lol

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A Look Into Max's Mind

This week at church they had the kids to an art project called "It's all bout___" (insert your kids name) All the kids got to paint and write information about themselves, what their favorite bible story is or what they know about God. I just had to post Max's because it was so funny! The teachers couldn't wait to show me what he wrote when I picked him up. If you can't read his answers you can click on the image to make it bigger. Some of the highlights are:

Gods wonders are?: "making trees and food"

The bible says?: "Chrust in the Lord"

And the best...What's your favorite bible story?: "The curse of fickshun" (for the crucifixion) : )

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Soccer Season

It's that time of year again! I actually like fall soccer season...it's spring soccer that I loathe! In the spring, you don't even get to play half the games because it's starts when there's still snow on the ground! Or when they're playing it's lie 30 degrees out....I'm trying really hard to convince Scott that we shouldn't do it this year (*hint, hint* babe!)

Max has had a couple games now but this was the first weekend I actually took some pics. His whole team, The Lightning, is pictured above and I got one killer shot of him flipping the ball up in the air behind him (below)

Max has remarked that he has the best hair on the team. LOL!! I have to say, I do love it in the picture above : ) And then there's poor Titus who had to quit soccer because of his broken arm. He's been cheering Max on from the sidelines.

Oh well...next year little birdie! : )

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LEGO ENCOUNTER!

OK....so I have entirely too much time on my hands! Max's Lego "me" inspired me to create a "Lego Encounter!"  Encounter is a three day worship event that we put on at our church. Right now, we are planning the next one so I have Encounter on the brain. I decided to see if I could make Lego "me's" out of all the people involved....though I couldn't make everyone, here's a couple. You really don't want to know how many hours it took me to build this....it's obscene actually. From left to right there's Andrew, Tyler, Chrysti, Zach, Karrie, Brannon, Carl and David. I'm pretty proud of it....if I do say so myself! : )

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Art Imitates Life

Sometimes art imitates life! Max made this awesome LEGO me in the Porsche. He actually did it a while ago but I forgot to post it....so here it is:

He's so talented! Who knows, maybe he'll grow up to be a LEGO engineer?

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Titus' Latest Test

It's actually been almost two weeks since Titus had his CT Angiogram done but I forgot to blog about it....so here goes! Since his aneurysm, the doctors have decided to test him every 3-5 years to make sure that no more are forming in his head or neck....as a preventative deal. Of course any procedure done at this point is traumatic for Titus and honestly, I don't blame him. He's been poked and prodded at for too long now. Here he is getting ready to go into the test...and with his Gammy....

Thankfully, they were able to use the gas mask to put him to sleep prior to putting in the IV. He still had a major freak out session about the mask. He was screaming and writhing around on the table....and it was just breathing! Ugh....I HATE with a passion, seeing my kids in pain. I want so much for him to never have to be tested again! 

We go to the doctors tomorrow for them to tell us the results of the test. I'm assuming if something was up they would have called us by now so I'm not thinking they found anything. But I'll let you know what they say.....

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Key Lime Cupcakes

 OK.....so I'm kinda passionate about food. When I find something that I really like I then have to learn how to make it. A while ago, I had a Key Lime Cupcake in Cherry Creek at Big Fat Cupcake, and I fell in love with it and I've been trying to make a decent one ever since. This is not their recipe but a pretty close version of it. I have to warn you, I'm one of those "semi-homemade" gals, so "sorry" to you purists out there that have to do everything from scratch. This does involve a box for the cake part...but it does add other ingredients to it so it really doesn't taste like it's from a box. They're slightly labor intensive, with the cake, filling, frosting and crumbs on top, but SO worth it. Let me know if you make them and how they turn out!

Ultimate Key Lime Cupcakes

Cupcakes

1          box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® lemon cake mix

1          box (4-serving size) lime-flavored gelatin

3/4          cup water

1/3          cup key lime juice

1/3          cup vegetable oil

3      eggs

Key Lime Pudding Filling

1     tablespoon grated lime zest

1     cup key lime juice

1     (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1     (3.5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix

Frosting

2          package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

1         stick butter , softened

2          teaspoon vanilla

2      cups powdered sugar

2      tablespoons key lime juice

Crust Topping

8      Honey Graham Crackers

2      tablespoons brown sugar

1/4   cup melted butter

1^st Make The Cupcakes:

Heat oven to 350°F. Place paper baking cup in each of 24 regular-size muffin cups (or paper liners in 12 Large muffin cups. If you make in large muffin cups I would double the cupcake part but not everything else) In large bowl, beat cake mix and gelatin with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds. Add remaining cupcake ingredients. Beat with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds; beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl as necessary. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each just over 1/2 full. If you fill them too much they will collapse when baking.

Bake 18 to 23 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pan to cooling rack. While the cupcakes bake…

2^nd Make The Pudding Filling:

In a large bowl, mix together lime zest, lime juice, and condensed milk. Whisk in pudding mix and allow to set up 5 minutes in the fridge. Then…

3^rd Make The Frosting:

In large bowl, beat cream cheese and butter on medium speed until light and fluffy. On low speed, beat in vanilla and 2 cups powdered sugar until mixed; beat on medium speed until fluffy and set aside. Then…

4^th Make The Crust Topping:

In a medium sized bowl, combine graham crackers, brown sugar, and melted butter in a food processor until well combined. If you don’t have a food processor, just crush the graham crackers and mix the melted butter and sugar together with a fork and set aside. (note: this makes a lot more than you need) Then…

5^th Fill The Cupcakes With Filling:

Cut a small cone shaped piece of cake out of each cupcake. Fill the cavity with the key lime pudding filling mixture. Cut the body of the cone off leaving just the cap of the cupcake. Replace it back on top of the cupcake. Then…

6^th Frost The Cupcakes:

Scoop the frosting into a large ziplock bag and cut the tip off one corner of the bag. Frost the cupcakes by swirling the frosting back and forth over the entire top of the cupcake. (There should be a lot of frosting) Place them in the fridge for at least 10 minutes to let the frosting harden slightly. Then…

7^th Top It With Crust

Take each cupcake and roll the frosted edges around in the bowl of crust mixture. Just the edges should be coated.

Store the cupcakes covered in the refrigerator.

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My Little Cub Scouts

The kids started up Cub Scouts this past week! Max did it last year and is officially a "Wolf" this year, but this is Titus' first year. Of course, for Titus, it's all about the uniform! : ) To say they were excited would be a huge understatement! 

Scott is quite the proud daddy! I'm sure there will be many more posts to come about all their scouting adventures!

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Grandparents Day

Last week on Friday (yes, the same day as the casting debacle) was Grandparents day for Titus at school! Only some of his grandparents (Gammy, Jammy & Pappa) were able to make it but we definitely missed all of you who couldn't be there! : )  Titus was so cute...that morning when he was getting dressed he said that he had to put on his "handsome clothes" for his grandparents because he needed to look nice for them! He's so sweet! : )

First, all of the first-graders did a little show for all the grandparents in the gym...

Titus was so cute singing and doing all his little moves with his cast on! : ) Then, we all went back to Titus' classroom where we got to help him do little crafts and talk about what school used to be like when the grandparents were in school. Here's the grandma's helping Titus do a craft project of a picture of himself...

He is as cute a bug! He had also done this drawing of what he thinks he looks like now and what he thinks he'll look like when he's a grandpa....

I love that he has grey hair, a cane and a mustache...like Pappa! LOL! That kid cracks me up! It was a really fun day and so great to spend time with Titus in his little world!

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Broken Arm *UPDATE*

Last week on Friday, Titus went in to get a hard cast put on his broken arm. Here he is getting it put on:

All was going well...until they x-rayed it after they put the hard cast on (pictured above). It turns out that one of the bones moved during the casting! So they then proceeded to get the saw out, which completely freaked Titus out by the way, and cut a slit in the hard cast in order to shove a plastic splint in the hole. As they shoved the splint in, Titus is crying because it was pushing on his broken bone. Then they x-rayed it again and it was in the wrong place! So they took it out and shoved it in again! Titus was screaming crying at this point and I was getting mad and asking if they could at least get Titus some ibuprofen for the pain. They finally decided to stop. They said that the bone is not in a perfect position but that it could still heal like it is. So now we wait. They are going to x-ray it again on Monday morning and hopefully it hasn't moved or gotten worse. If it has, then we'll have to talk options on what to do next. If you think about it, please say a prayer that Titus' arm would be healed!

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Boba Fett Ship

WOW....it's been a crazy busy last week...or two. I think I've lost count! LOL! Anyhoo....lot's to blog about. First up, is the Boba Fett ship that Titus scored for breaking his arm. Here it is completed:

 I think Max is just as excited about it as Titus is....or maybe more ; )

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Broken Arm *UPDATE*

So...here's the x-ray from this mornings visit to the doctor. From a "layman's" perspective it's not lookin' so hot, but apparently, the doctor is pleased with how it's doing. The big break is straight and they aren't concerned that it's not perfectly straight. Titus was all excited to get a hard green colored cast on today....but no such luck. They decided to wait one more week to put him in the hard cast. They said the percentage that he could re-break it while re-casting it was greater than him doing it on his own in the splint he's in now. So, one more week, we wait!

He is quite the little trooper. Secretly, I think he loves all the attention it's getting him! : )

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Shark-Bait-Hoo-Ha-Ha!!!

I don't know what the deal is but my kids are obsessed with sharks! Especially JAWS! And no, we haven't let them watch the movie, they just sit and stare at the DVD cover and ask all kinds of questions about the movie. They did some drawings a few weeks ago but I hadn't posted them yet. I'm not sure if "Shark Week" inspired their drawings or what but I thought they were funny so I had to share...

I like how you can see a lady yelling from inside the shark mouth on Titus'!

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Another Trip To The ER!

Last night we had the fine pleasure of spending the evening at the Good Samaritan Hospital's ER! Titus broke his arm skateboarding at the park. He wasn't doing any freaky tricks or anything, just normal skating when he fell and landed on his arm. When he went down he actually heard his bone crack! He started crying (of course) and holding his arm as he started walking towards Scott, who was sitting a short distance from him. As soon as Scott saw him he knew Titus had broken his arm. It was straight to a point and then it leaned off to the side. 

Luckily, a nurse was at the park and he sat with Titus so Scott could run and get Max, who was on the other side of the park. The nurse was awesome! He asked Scott to get some magazines and duct tape and he got all "MacGyver" and pulled off a make-shift splint for the ride to the hospital.

I actually wasn't home at the time. But I checked my phone later and saw that I had some missed calls from Scott, which totally freaked me out because I knew he would only be calling me if something was wrong. I was all the way out in Aurora so I had to speed like the wind to high-tail it up to Good Sam in Broomfield. When I got there they had Titus sedated and were resetting his bones. He managed to break both bones in his left forearm! We also confirmed his allergy to morphine...good times my friends! He only came down with a mild rash that went away over time, but that's good to know for future reference. 

Titus was quite the trooper! When we managed to wake him up so we could go home I asked (in my most sympathetic "Oh Honey" kinda mom voice) "Are you OK baby?" and like a tough little man he said all authoritatively "I'm OK Mom!" (like, calm down already....I'm fine!)

He is one tough little dude! Here's some pics of the event:

Waiting for sedation...

After they set it. He's in a soft cast. They'll recheck it next Friday and then put a hard cast on.

Ready to go home.

This is our second actual trip to Good Sam's ER for Titus. I really hope we never have to make one again! Oh...and as we sat him up to leave we noticed a big glob of duct tape still stuck to his back! The doctor looked at us like "What the?" When we told him why it was there his response was, "It really does work for everything doesn't it?" LOL!

Last night Titus began schmoozing his way into a toy for all the pain he was in. Of course we agreed! So today we made a trip to Target to get this coveted Boba Fett Slave ship....what can I say, the kid deserved it!

Max was quite the awesome and caring big brother during the whole thing so he got rewarded too. They are both happy little campers today!

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Back-To-School!!!!

OK....I'll admit it....I am SOOOOO ready for the kids to go back to school! Don't get me wrong, I love them. I love spending time with them and we've had an amazing summer together, BUT I am so ready for a little "me" time without kids 24/7!  Plus, this will be the first time in 7 years that I will have both kids in school full-time! A whole 7 hours a day to myself!!!! I AM SO EXCITED!!!!

One of my favorite things about going back to school is the shopping! (I know that's such a girly thing to say but it's true!) I took the boys to the mall the other day and found some really cool stuff. Max about flipped his lid when we saw LEGO shoes! It is, by far, his favorite purchase to date!

They both also went bonkers over the discovery of JAWS t-shirts! They have a total fascination with sharks in general and with the movie Jaws. Of course, we have not let them watch the movie, but they just stare at the cover to the DVD and ask us all sorts of questions about what happens in the film. We've tried to explain to them that the movie would scare the daylights out of them but they still insist that they "can handle it."  ....yeah right!

All in all, we found a lot of great stuff, those are just some of their favorites. We also got to do some shopping with Nana (a.k.a Ann) and, thanks to her, I think they're pretty loaded up for a long time. The boys will be stylin' for sure!

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Bored Experiment

Max was bored the other day and thought it would be fun do a little experiment outside with balloons. I kept hearing weird sounds outside but had no idea what it was. I finally went out and found him with the hose hooked to large balloons and he was calculating how long it would take for them to explode. It was actually really cute....he had a little note pad with with for documentation. The balloons got surprisingly huge! And if you look close at what he wrote, it's hilarious!...

This is "ASOM!" (a.k.a. "Awesome") Love it!

As a side note....do you think my kid needs a haircut???? I think so! : )

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Max Can Swim!!!

At the beginning of the summer I signed the kids up for swim lessons. Titus did really well and is basically a little fishy! Every time we get to the pool he spends the entire time under the water and hardly gets out....he LOVES the water! Max, on the other hand, is a different story.

Max has always been afraid of the water, but I knew he needed to know how to swim. Lessons didn't go so well for him. He would basically spend most of the time clung to the edge of the pool and then if his instructor tried to get him to put his head under the water he would go ballistic and start crying and freaking out. Eventually, he would just get out of the pool and beg me to never make him go back. I decided to cancel the swim lessons and teach them myself!

We got a small above ground pool at our house which really helped Max get comfortable with being in water everyday. Then, my aunt Kathleen, was gracious enough to let us come out to her pool at her house as much as we wanted this summer. Just when we were thinking "Maybe next summer he'll get his head under the water..." it happened! He just decided to give it a try and he was OK! No water got in his ears....he was fine! And now, he's swimming! Well, not like in the deep-end on his own kind of swimming, but swimming! 

Here's his first time:

I don't want it to sound like I'm not proud of Titus, because I am. Swimming just came so naturally to him and the kid has no fear. I'm just so proud of Max for overcoming one of his biggest fears! ....Now to get him over his fear of dogs and we'll be good to go! ; )

Here's some other pics of Titus and the cousins that were all with us that day......(sorry, I didn't get pics of everybody)

Thumbs up Max!

Titus...my little fish!

Kar Kar

Shug-a-woog

Corrin (Butter girl)

Mr. just chillin'

and Ray Ray asleep : )

Our time at the pool is almost over : ( School is about to begin next week, but it's been an awesome summer and I already can't wait 'til next year!

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Vow Renewal

For my parent's 25th wedding anniversary they decided to renew their vows. So this past weekend we headed up to Steamboat Springs to celebrate. I wasn't their "official" photographer, but I did take a lot of candid pics! (OK...So I always take a lot of pics!)  It was a beautiful ceremony held at the Steamboat Grand Hotel. Their vows were so heartfelt that I think everyone cried at some point. Their marriage is a true inspiration to us all. I thank the Lord that they found each other and I pray they have many more years to enjoy life together! I have a TON of pics from that day but here's few of my favorites...

Listening to Mel give a speech

Saying their vows

Love was in the air!

I love you both so much. You mean the world to me and I am honored to be your daughter, to know you both and to have the chance to share my life with you. Words cannot express my "Thanks" to you for all that you do for our family. I pray you love each other more and more each day!

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