Brandon turns 13

Well, it's official. We now have 2 teenagers in the house! Brandon turned 13 years old yesterday! He is such a sweetie.



And here he is with his long-awaited present....an ipod. I don't even understand how to work these things....kids are definitely smarter than me these days.

And what birthday wouldn't be complete without cake and ice cream.....all chocolate of course, as per his request.

I even made him blow out his candles.....all 13 of them. And he got them all on the first try. :)

Happy Birthday Brandon! You are an amazing son and we're so glad you're a part of our family. WE LOVE YOU!

Jacob's Kindergarten Fieldtrip

Jacob had a fieldtrip last week to the Living Planet Aquarium. My mom and I decided to drive out and meet the class there. It was so fun and the kids were so cute. Jacob couldn't wait until the day arrived and the morning of the trip he woke up at 6:00 to make sure he wouldn't be late.

Here's a picture of a huge toad.....or frog......some amphibian of sorts......and it was trying to hide.

A few of his classmates....

A picture in front of the fish......

And here are the cool penguins......

I loved the stingrays......they were totally awesome.

More penguins......oh yeah, and "peace."

Hiding in a cave......

It was a really fun fieldtrip. I'm glad we went.

Basement Pics

We got our basement finished before Christmas. Well, at least the walls and carpet. We still haven't decorated much, but since then, we've completed all plugs and lights, which is so nice.


Here are a few before pictures.


Believe it or not, we actually had oak strips on our walls. Real oak. Ugly oak, but real. As you can see, it was supposed to be some sort of cool pattern......but we think it was really somebody's way of recycling the wood. "Hey, let's put these oak strips on the WALL.....just for fun." Very strange! But it was a great conversation piece. (Notice the cable strip; it was a nice touch and added quite a bit more for conversation's sake).

This is what it looked like after we started to remove the oak. They were glued and nailed to the wall underneath.

And here is what we discovered in one section. Yes, those are mirror strips. Another recycling project, do you think?

This is all the wood in our backyard, which will be recycled once again.....for firewood. It has sat all winter, unfortunately, so it's lost its pretty shine.... :) But once it gets chopped up, it will make for some warm fires.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a shot of our back stairway. I don't know why I didn't take one. This is an old picture from a couple of years ago, when Jacob had fallen asleep on the bottom step. It's the only one I could find to show what it looked like. Sadly, it was actually worse than this. The bottom half was very ugly, brown paneling.....and the top half was a 70's style, swirled paint design. This picture just doesn't do justice, but hopefully you'll get an idea of it's grossness!

This is the brown paneling now stacked in our garage. Still very disgusting. It literally had scratches from top to bottom from some large-clawed creature that must have inhabited this house before us......

And here is our NEW back stairway. The hand railing isn't painted yet, but for now, I'm just glad it's up. Do you see our little Ziggy at the bottom peering up?

One corner is sort-of like the office part.....

There aren't any oak strips now.....Yipee!

So, like I said, it's not all decorated, but we love, love, love the coziness of this room now. It is perfect for our family and it was worth every penny! :)

Monkey Pudding Recipe

Here is the recipe for Monkey Pudding for those of you who asked. You will go ape for this tasty dessert.... :)

2 1/2 cups milk
1 (6 ounce) box of instant banana pudding
1 (14 ounce) can sweetend condensed milk
1 (12 ounce) container whipped topping
1 (12 ounce) package vanilla wafer cookies
2 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
3 bananas

Directions:

1. Combine milk, dry pudding mix, sweetened condensed milk and half of the whipped topping. Mix with mixer.

2. In a serving dish (I just used a 9 x 13 pan), spread a layer of vanilla wafer cookies. Add 1 cup mini marshmallows on top of the cookies. (I didn't use the marshmallows--just a personal preference).

3. Slice bananas and layer on top of the marshmallows.

4. Pour half of the pudding mixture evenly over the cookies and marshmallows.

5. Add another layer of cookies and mini marshmallows. Then pour remaining pudding mixture over the marshmallows.

6. Combine the remaining whipped topping with 1/2 cup marshmallows. (Again, I left out the marshmallows). Spread on top of the pudding.

7. Refrigerate overnight before serving. (Or just make it earlier in the day for later in the evening).

My own side note: I actually put the sliced bananas on top of the pudding mixture, but only because I messed up. So my layering went like this: vanilla wafers, pudding, sliced bananas, vanilla wafers, pudding, then whipped topping. It was delicious. Let me know if any of you make it and if you like it! YUM!