Sunday, August 31, 2014

Virginia Tech Vs. William & Mary

Darren, myself, and the boys were able to enjoy the FIRST Virginia Tech game of the season, together.  Lilah stayed behind and played with Ansley. Her Diva self didn't wish to endure the heat. Lol!  Here we are all dressed up in our Hokie gear and ready to cheer our team on.
These boys were SOOOOO excited to watch their favorite college football team in action.
Jax had the spiffiest Hokie shoes in the entire stadium.  People were stopping him and complimenting him on his shoes, no lie, ask Darren if you don't believe me. I bought those shoes at Short Pump on our way back from Busch Gardens, a few weeks ago.
Goofing off by taking some family selfies!
 I LOVE this photo. My three guys!
 William and Mary: player down.
 Broken leg. He's removed from the field.
 The dancers.
 The Cadets.
 The Hokie Bird.
 Tackle.
 I was able to capture the second to the last touch down. So cool!
We were filmed and made it to the big screen.  Ty was so excited.
Can you spot Ty on the big screen?  I took a picture with my cell phone, but it didn't capture it well.
Ty  met up with Joey, a classmate that moved to Pennsylvania last December.  They were happy to see each other.
We are so thankful to have season tickets. It was nice to take the boys to the game without our princess. It was a really HOT day, but that is certainly better than a rainy or cold day! AND our team WON, so you can't really ask for a better outcome. Final score 34 to 9. Go Hokies! 

The Cheese!

When the Summer began and even LONG before the 2013-2014 school year ended, I began speaking to the twins about riding the bus.  I offered to take the kids to school, but my kids wanted to take the school bus. They insisted actually. Well... the truth be told, NOW that school has been going on for 1 week, the novelty has worn off to Lilah, but truly, they begged and begged to ride it initially.  So... we gave them their wishes. 

Enjoy some pictures from their bus experience the first day of school!
 Up they go...
 Looking back, I cannot believe how brave my twinsies were. It does seem like a very scary thing to do for someone so little.
 We love our bus driver Ms. Robyn.  She has been Ty's bus driver since Kindergarten.
 Off they go... 
Above: See Lilah's big bun silhouette?
Below: See Jax's silhouette?
On their way to school!
The bus arrived WAAAY too early compared to the designated pick up time, so almost everyone parent/child combo was running to the bus stop. I think every parent failed to hug and kiss their children goodbye too!  I fixed that problem by following the bus to school.  LOL! I'm not kidding.  I beat the bus to school, EVEN THOUGH I drove right past the school (I was so tired and in such a daze about what was going on!).
 My big kids getting off the bus.  
 I was so proud of them. 
Man they look soooooo BIG!
 Liley spotted me, gave me a big hug and kiss, and off they went to Kindergarten.
I am NOT sure what made me more sad, the twins acting so BIG or this BIG boy (above and below).  Gosh... he's growing up so fast!
Every year, I have captured Tyson, getting off of the bus, on the first and last day of school. I definitely plan to keep up with that tradition, especially with ALL of the kids in school now.  See the video below!
Photo (The Bus Arriving Home)
Video
When Liley got off of the bus, she said, "I missed you so much mommy! I felt like that day would never end, it was soooooo long!"  LOL! Awe. Poor girl.

Finally, I was able to sneak ON the bus, on the third day of school, and capture a photo of where on the bus the kids actually sit.

Stop Crying Mom!

 OH DON'T YOU WORRY... I'm not!!! LOL!!!!  
I enjoy finding FUN ways to sport our back-to-school photos and comedy always has to play a role! Last year, our back-to-school photos were GREAT! My favorite to-date.  I am not sure we can ever top them, but I thought this year's photos were cute and clever as well. I already posted the first set, right before this post, but here are a few more.
I didn't even tell them how to pose, but I thought Lilah's face was priceless.

Mi Tres Loco Niños aka My Three Crazy Kids!

The moment when...
You realize...
Your children...
Have your husband's...
Twisted sense of humor...
 And you don't know whether...
To be proud...
Or scared!!!
My kids... they drive me crazy, make me crazy, but LIFE would be so DULL without them!
These photos were captured the morning school started.  BOY was I glad to be shipping them off. LOL!

At A.C. Moore, I found a piece of scrapbook paper that looks like a bus... I took these photos ONE step further and taped one of these photos onto the paper. It made it look like the kids were on the back of the bus smooshing their faces up against the back door of the bus. Haha.
AHAHAHAHHA!

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Chocolate-Covered, Cookie Dough, Pretzel Bites!

Last night, I hosted small group at our home. I really enjoy providing something for our guests to eat, but I have always gone a tad over board. We start at 6:30 pm, so cutting out the dinner type hors d' oeuvres seems appropriate.  I was on the hunt for a yummy, bite-sized, impressive, yet simple and crumb-less dessert. Check this out!
Chocolate-Covered, Cookie Dough, Pretzel Bites
Ingredients:
(1) Package of Cookie Dough
(1) Bag of Pretzels
(1) Package of Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels 
Directions: roll cookie dough into balls.  I used a good 1-inch, pinch of the dough aka approximately (2) teaspoons. You could either roll all of the dough FIRST or do one pretzel cookie at a time.  I did it the latter way.
Smoosh the cookie dough in-between two pretzels.  I had several pretzels break due to the hard chocolate morsels.  No biggie... there are a TON of pretzels in the bag and you don't even use 1/4 of the bag.

Freeze pretzels and cookie dough for a good 15 minutes. This hardens and prepares the dough consistency that will be dipped into the hot, melted chocolate. If you do NOT freeze the dough, your cookie dough sandwich will be a sloppy mess and the pretzels will become detached from the dough.

In meantime, while the pretzel cookies are freezing, melt the chocolate. I placed the chocolate in a small glass bowl and microwaved the chocolate on 30 second intervals.  After you remove the pretzel sandwiches from the freezer, dip each "cookie" into the chocolate.  I recommend just doing HALF of the sandwich.  These are VERY heavenly and rich! I don't think they will be nearly as enjoyed if you dip the entire sandwich into the chocolate. It will be way too sweet.
If you are at all counting calories, these are NOT something I suggest making, even though they are bite sized. Also, I used the pre-made cookie dough and I know many would be concerned about the raw egg. You can always find a recipe for a cookie dough that is eggless.  I served these to 10+ adults and no one is sick.  Haha.  I am not suggesting you go that route, but it was a safe route for us.
These got rave reviews!!!! The only one who didn't indulge in them was Ty and Darren.  Ty hates chocolate and Darren never enjoys God's blessings of dessert! ...Weirdo! I didn't count the quantity of pretzels that this recipe makes, but if I had to guess, I think it was approximately 25 sandwiches.  I know... that doesn't seem like enough for 10 adults, but TRUST me it is.  I had 6 left over...that's how rich they are.  

I am excited to try a few other versions of this dessert.  The options are endless.