Peanut Butter

It's back to school time and that means packing lunches. My kids get soooooooooo sick of routine or repetitive foods, so I have to vary things up. Thanks to a great sale at Kroger, James brought home 2 CASES of peanut butter. PB&J everyday will NEVER fly in my house, but the kids do love peanut. I have several variations, some tried and true, some new ones to try out on them. So here's a list of things to do with peanut butter. If you have any great suggestions to add, please to so!

1. Traditional peanut butter and jelly
2. Peanut butter and banana sandwiches
3. Peanut butter and diced apple sandwiches
4. Peanut butter, banana, and chocolate chip rollups
5. Peanut butter, strawberry preserves, crushed peanuts, banana and strawberry rollups
6. Fluffer Nutters - peanut butter and marshmallow creme sandwichs
7. Peanut butter and honey sandwichs, or on toast for breakfast
8. Peanut butter cup sandwichs - peanut butter with chocolate (especially good grilled)
9. Straight peanut butter toast (a fast breakfast fav)
10. Peanut butter balls.... okay, so not really a great lunch option, but an awesome sweet treat!

So, that's my top 10 ideas for using peanut butter this school year. Do you have any to add??

Gearing up for School to Start

It's the time again. We should fine out tomorrow who the kids' teachers will be this year. Please please please let Bethany be in Ms. Neal's class - we'll NEVER hear the end of it if she's not!!!! Anyway, washing up fall/winter clothes and going through summer stuff to see what still fits and what they've outgrown. Overall we've had to buy very little for this year! Yeah for that! So far they're looking pretty good. School supplies are bought, and food menu for the next month complete. Now, if I can just finish cleaning the house and sorting through laundry we'll be set! Only 4 more days to pull it all together as we're off to the lake this weekend!

Newest family members

We welcome the crabs.... all 18 hermit crabs, to our family! Tonight we went out and got a tank, sand, air filter, rocks, and salt water to set a new home for our new family. The kids helped pick out everything at the store and we had the best family time we've had in awhile putting it all together. The kids took turns pouring water into the tank. They learned how to test the water and add the salt to the proper levels. They poured in the sand and set up the rocks, then named and added each crab. It wasn't a big project, but we all just had the best time putting it together. Definitely a great memory for us all!

Bon Voyage Sammons

They've been dropped off at the airport. Hope you have a great trip home to Austin. We miss you tons already!!!

We've been so very fortunate to have not one, but two awesome vacation with them this year. 2009 has definitely been a great year!

Cape Hatteras, NC with the Sammons

What an AWESOME vacation!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow, talk about picture perfect. I can't think of anything that could have made last week any better! The house had a major upgrade since our last trip. Added 3 new rooms, an elevator, and a hottub - as if it wasn't big enough before! At first arrival our beloved hammock was MIA, but we located it and put it back up and enjoyed the complete relaxation and peace of lying in the hammock listening to the waves crash upon the shore. Sheer bliss! We spend many many hours at the beach this year. Katy was such a trooper. She napped easily on the beach, enjoyed eating the sand, and halfway enjoyed the water itself.... got a little freaked out when some of the bigger waves would come up and knock her over, but overall she was content sitting in the surf. Josh, Roman, Madison, Hope, and Bethany have grown up tremedously since our last time there with them in 2006. Amazing the changes in 3 years! They spent most of their time IN the water instead of on the beach. They did a lot of boogie boarding and even went out passed the breaks to swim around. We took several walks down the beach and had a perfect bonfire experience. I love beach bonfires. Everything in the world seems perfectly aligned and the stress just melts away. Add some flashlight tag with the ghost crabs and a few s'mores and life was just perfect! We had a few storms while there, but the little bit of weather we experienced certainly didn't hinder our trip in anyway. We spent a good chunk of two days playing in the sound. The kids collected 18 hermit crabs to bring home. We found several clams, saw lots of fish, and Jason caught a blue crab... with his hands.... I doubt he'll ever try that again! LOL We discovered the BEST hotwings ever at the Froggie Dog. Ate great seafood... heck we ate great food all week, even if we did cook it ourselves! The hottub was great for winding down the day, or to hide in during a storm. LOL Honestly when we vacation with the Sammons it doesn't matter where we go or what we do, we know we're going to have a great time, but this trip was just too perfect for words!!!

Katy-bug - 7 1/2 months old

Since I'm updating today I might as well finish off with the Bug. Kathryn is now 7 1/2 months old. She is doing fantastic. Milestones: crawling, sitting, crawl to sit, sit to crawl, mimicking, pull to stand, starting to cruise. She's been sleeping through the night since about 5weeks old and now sleeps a good 10-12 hour stretch. She's laughing and smiling and babbling. She eats solids, but isn't a huge fan of food.... yeah, we're sure she's one of ours!.... she prefers her "bah". She's just starting to get the slightest resemblence of hair. She's still completely toothless, but I've been swearing for months she was cutting teeth and someday I WILL be right! She has busy busy little hands right now and is exploring everything. She loves to play with her feet, still takes a binkie but also sucks on her toes, thumb, fingers, or generally anything within mouth's reach. She's probably about 15-16 lbs now, still petite, but def no longer failure to thrive! Her eyes are still blue and her hair is coming in quite light so far. She has an infectious giggle and a heartwarming smile. She has NO stranger anxiety or attachment issues. She is very friendly, loves people, especially her big sisters and brother. She often full belly laughs when seeing them walk in the room. She is very happy, laid back and easy going with a slight temper when provoked. Overall we honestly could not have asked for a more perfect baby. She is AMAZING!

Sears Checkout Lady

Last night Angie and I went bathing suit shopping. I needed one or two for our beach trip next week as my old ones don't fit well post-pregnancy. It was a late last minute trip. I tried on about half a dozen and settled on 2 that were decent. While I was finishing up in the dressing room the store closed. By the time we got out of the dressing room the door was locked and half the lights were out. So basically NO ONE was left in the store but us. We walk up to the check out counter where the cashier is finishing up with another customer and aside from us only employees are anywhere within sight. We are standing behind the lady checking out and the cashier says, "Ma'ams please stand in line over there by the ropes." Angie and I just looked at each other and moved to the "line" on the other side of the counter. The cashier then goes on to tell the customer "next thing you know I'll have 3 different lines going and everyone rushing to check out." There's NO ONE left in the store! Angie and I are barely containing ourselves by this point. So, if that isn't bad enough, the cashier finishes up with the customer, turns toward the "line" and starts looking around, not AT us, but AROUND us and says loudly, "Who's next in line?" Of course we're DYING by this point trying not to look at each other. The cashier never makes contact with either of us. She carefully folds the first bathing suit, then can't find the tag on the second. I commented that it was in the armpit cause I had just tried it on and it was poking me. To which she removes the security tag grabs up the suits with one turned inside out, wads them up and stuffs them into a bag. It was just the oddest thing ever and Angie and I walked away shaking our heads and giggling the whole way back to the car. The only that would have made the scene any better is if the checkout lady had again asked who was next in line after we left, cause there was NO ONE else in the store but us! LOL Maybe it's one of those, ya just had to be there, moments, but seriously that's about the funniest thing that's happened to me since Jeni got the one armed man to move her couch!

Summer 2009 - time continues to fly by

What a crazy summer it's been. We kicked it off with me in the hospital with a MRSA outbreak. Swim team was a lot of fun. The kids did good and had a great time. Roman didn't have the season he imagined and was a little disappointed not to make Champs again this year, but he bumped up to midgets this year and swimming 50m is a tough adjustment from 25m. He was back to competing by end of season and I look forward to watching him kick some butt in this division next summer! Hope and Bethany also swam this summer and did great and improved tremendously throughout the season. It was INSANE how big our team grew this year. Kari and the girls were home for the summer. We had a lot of sick in the house with me especially due to a weakened immune system from all the antibiotics fighting the MRSA. Finally getting back to my normal self now. We were able to finally catch up with them and spend their last 2 days in the states with them before putting them on a plane back to Texas. It was much too short of a visit but we are thrilled we got that much at least! In July we had a Cunningham family reunion. It was great to see everyone. The kids didn't want to leave at the end of the day, even Roman who is notorious for getting bored with my side of the family and "all those girls!" He found there are a few boy cousins floating around afterall and loved riding the tractor and playing all day. Got a hotel that night and learned very quickly that we are definitely not a 1 hotel room family anymore! It's all suites or 2 rooms from here on out. LOL Roman got to spend an incredible week in Myrtle Beach with grandma and Aunt Bonnie. Kari and the girls were there too, so he got to spend some great time with them even if the rest of us didn't. He went to the aquarium, Medieval Times, the beach, fireworks, and on and on. It was a great week for him. Bethany landed a case of MRSA to round out July. 12 spots across her stomach and chest. Fortunately she responded amazingly to Bactrim and was such a trooper. Almost can't even tell they were there now! Otherwise it has been a fast, crazy, yet boring summer! LOL

The Sammons are now in town visiting and we're all off to the beach for a week tomorrow morning!