Free Samples

My girls love to go visit their Dad at work. Since he works in the construction business there are always a lot of great things to see at Whitehead. The other day we walked in the cabinet department and there are a zillion different kinds of samples on the wall. Of course the girls love free stuff so they helped themselves to some samples. Then the girls continued their adventure in each department and collected a variety of samples. Lizzie's favorite sample was a piece of glass, but as she was getting in the car it fell and chipped. She was so sad that her dad had to bring her a new sample from work the next day.

Soccer Season has come to an end

The Lions had a great season. Lizzie won an award for best goalie. She loved being the goalie and did her best at not letting the ball pass her in the goal. This is Abram Lizzie's great friend from soccer. We just love his family. Abram has the hugest crush on Lizzie and always gets so shy around her. 

What great little friends :)

Our Farm Unit

We started a farm unit today working: on animal sounds and colors, writing our letters and reciting their sounds, and then working on a collage of animal placing them from smallest to largest. We also talked about where milk came from and we are going to make a graph of what milk is preferred: strawberry, white, or chocolate.

stART Project

I found this book as I was looking through the girls bookcase, and thought I would do a stART project with it. This is such a cute book about a cow that only knows how to oink, and a pig that only knows how to Moo. We starting working on a farm unit, and this stART project worked perfectly.

The yummiest soup

Okay I found this recipe through my Google reader, and let me tell you it is AMAZING!!! You totally need to make it. It is called Lasagna Soup.

Lasagna Soup
(print recipe)

for the soup:
2 tsp. olive oil
1-1/2 lbs. Italian sausage
3 c. chopped onions
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
2 T. tomato paste
1 28-oz. can fire roasted diced tomatoes
2 bay leaves
6 c. chicken stock
8 oz. mafalda or fusilli pasta
1/2 c. finely chopped fresh basil leaves
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

for the cheesy yum:
8 oz. ricotta
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp. salt
pinch of freshly ground pepper

2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add sausage, breaking up into bite sized pieces, and brown for about 5 minutes. Add onions and cook until softened, about 6 minutes. Add garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Cook for 1 minute. Add tomato paste and stir well to incorporate. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the tomato paste turns a rusty brown color.

Add diced tomatoes, bay leaves, and chicken stock. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Add uncooked pasta and cook until al dente. Do not over cook or let soup simmer for a long period of time at this point, as the pasta will get mushy and absorb all the soup broth. You may even want to consider cooking the noodles separately, and then adding some to individual bowls before ladling the soup over them. This would be an especially smart move if you are anticipating any leftovers. Right before serving, stir in the basil and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

While the pasta is cooking, prepare the cheesy yum. In a small bowl, combine the ricotta, Parmesan, salt, and pepper.

To serve, place a dollop of the cheesy yum in each soup bowl, sprinkle some of the mozzarella on top and ladle the hot soup over the cheese.

Servings: 8

2012

Well I have been MIA since October 31st... and hopefully since I'm writing that means I'm back for good. Sorry to all my followers I promise to do better :)

Well let's start off with my goals from last year: They are still hanging on my bathroom mirror, and David crossed off 2011 and wrote 2012 since I didn't complete many of them. I like to view this as a reflection... meaning I need to get on the ball more and work a little harder this year. I did complete my LARGEST goal which was to get pregnant again, and still work out. Madison Kaye was born on October 25th. She was my smallest baby weighting in at 7 lbs 3 oz, but she is the happiest baby I know. She loves to smile and coo and try to talk. I also met my weight goal for the year as well. So all in all I didn't get much accomplished, but the things I did I'm really proud of.

So here is another year and what do I have in store... A LOT!!!!

1. Work out everyday 2-4 hours and rest on Sundays
   
2. Run Ragnar (April 20-21st) Team: Are we there yet?
3. Maybe do a full Marathon.. this is still in the works.. if so I would love to do St. George, Utah
4. Work on my upper body strength, and finally be able to do a pull up
5. A will/living trust
6. Get down to my goal weight of last year 142 pounds
7. Attend the Temple Regularly (this goal hopefully will start this month)

So there you go... my goals! Hopefully this year I will accomplish all of them, if not I guess I will roll them to 2013 :)

I also received a new calling in the church. I have been the extra meetings coordinator for Relief Society, but now I am in Cub Scouts as the Bear Leader. I'm really excited about this calling. It allows me to use my teaching ability, and mix in some fun with the boys. I grew up as an only child with my grandparents, and knew nothing about the scouting program, but with David's help and knowledge I'm learning a lot, and my boys are working hard.

Happy Halloween

The Parkers want to wish you a spooky Halloween!!!
Love: David, Katrina, Lizzie, Krislynn, and Madison

Lizzie's Pumpkin Shirt

So after multiple jack o lantern faces this is the one Lizzie FINALLY picked! Hooray for fun holidays to make fun crafts!

Krislynn's pumpkin shirt

"Look at me!"

Krislynn's pumpkin silly face

I did it!!! Krislynn LOVES it, and now I'm one to making one for Lizzie. She said she wants a cat, but then she changes her mind every 3 seconds... The joys of being a 3 year old.

The girls

Oneies for Devyn's Baby Shower

My great friend Devyn is having her third baby in November, and she isn't finding out what she is having. This caused me some stress of deciding what to make her since I didn't know if it is going to be a girl or boy. I called multiple friends, and they gave me their take on what I should buy her, but nothing stood out to me, until late Thursday night I found this AMAZING Etsy shop with super cute unisex oneies. I LOVE the Hungry little caterpillar, and an owl to go with her owl theme. She loved them, and now I'm on to making the girls some jack o lantern shirts. Wish me luck!

Classical Lizzie

Lizzie has said some super funny stuff lately that I want to remember:

Saturday Conference Morning: David went over to our friend's house to pick up some baby items. Conference had just started...
(L) "Where is Daddy"
(K) "He went to go pick up something for Madison"
(L) "He went to Heaven to get Madison?"

Yesterday in Church during sharing time they were taking about Conference, and showed a picture of Pres. Erying
(Primary worker)"Can anyone tell me who this picture is of?"
(L) yells out "Georgie Porgie!"
(Primary worker) "Good guess, but he is not Georgie Porgie!"

I guess we have been reading our nursery rhymes book too much lately!

Here is the rhyme:
Georgie Porgie pudding and pie,
Kissed the girls and made them cry
When the boys came out to play,
Georgie Porgie ran away.

Oak Glen

The girls

Who wants my girls?

For the past week my girls have graciously decorated my carpet and furniture with random foods. Last week I bought David Fruity Pebbles and Coco Pebbles since he was starting a new class and he loves them. My darling daughters thought they should be used as confetti and traced it throughout my house. Each day they would find the boxes and let the ritual rain to flow. Finally the boxes were gone since they had so many pebble dances, and I thought the messes would end. BOY WAS I WRONG!!! After the pebbles were gone it went to Kix cereal, then Krislynn thought it would be enjoyable to take off her diaper and pee throughout our room, and when she would finish she would grab a towel and sit on it butt naked. Thank you for sitting on the towel Krislynn, but next time let's keep your diaper on please :) Then today Krislynn came into our office, and brought me her new adventure. Let me give you a couple hints of what it could be. It is white, found on the cooking isle, and it it powder. Did you guess powdered sugar? Yes, powder sugar was dumped everywhere from the kitchen to the family room, to the couches, then underneath the coffee table, then a huge pile on a side table, and then a perfect line down the hallway to the office.
So who would like my kids? They are super cute, and very mischievous :) What am I going to do to make them stop? I'm going out of my mind over here! Help me please!
Today's update adventure: Krislynn decided to get down the vitamins, and eat chewable Vitamin C tablets.