wow

now this is yummy!

and so easy my sisters could do it (haha funny huh) peanut butter pie

first you make an oreo crust. smash(thats the funnest part) about 20 oreo cookies. Melt 4 tb. butter and mix into the oreos. line a pie pan with it.

Then mix 1 pkg cream cheese, 1/2 c. sugar, and 1/2 c. peanut butter. cream till creamy. Add 2 c. coolwhip. mix well, put on top of crust, and enjoy. you can top with hot fudge sauce, or since I didn't have any, I melted a few chocolate chips, and swirled them on the top.

Look how creamy!!! so delicious. I may have to make another one!!!

Bur..... what????

Zach has been complaining his foot has been hurting for a while now. (mother of the year, I kept telling him to get over it) well he wasn't getting over it, so we took him in to get it checked out. Turns out he has burcitis. He was put on limited activity, (he even got a note for p.e.) for 2 weeks, with anti-inflamitories, and ice 3 times a day. If its not better in 2 weeks, then we go see the orthopedic dr. which means, probably surgery,and a cast for a while. Is there no end. Lets just say that we are keeping him as still as possible for a 12 year old, so we can avoid further problems.

I am thinking that the medical black cloud has been hovering over my house for the last while. I am ready for it to leave!!!!!!!!!!

new perm!!!!

Not too bad for my first try. We decided to perm alli's hair last night. we wanted more of a wavy, than a curly, I think we did pretty good!!! what a cutie!~

We went up in the mountains the other day to get our first load of firewood, and let the kids shoot the guns, which is their reward for helping us gather wood, so here are Joey and Zach shooting, I have to say they are pretty good shots! Everybody doing their part gathering firewood, although Joey and Alli were more interested in chopping down trees, than gathering dead ones off the ground, but they were pretty cute anyway.
Salt and pepper worked so hard to carry this branch to the trailer! Good job babies!

OCD control.
Ok so I do have a little obsessive compulsive disorder! This is what I woke up to sunday moring. I was laying in bed, (I only slept in a little) and I could smell pancakes. I jumped up since I knew brian was still in bed, to see who was cooking, and this is what I found--(I had to take a few deep breaths, and try not to look at the mess, and just appreciate the thought) Zach, Jason,and Abby were mixing up the pancake batter, Zach also peeled some potatoes for hashbrowns. Joey was making over easy eggs, very impressive, and Alli got me a glass of diet pepsi!! I am so loved. And its ok that it took me 45 min. to clean up all the.....love.... that was spilled on the floor. That was the best breakfast EVER!!! l love my babies.

Soccer moms! Here is a rare pic of me on my blog, usually I am taking all the pics. This is my bff from high school her family came up for the weekend, and helped us cheer on alli at her soccer game. If you would have seen us in high school, you would laugh at us sitting at a soccer game with our babies on our laps, but here we are!!! Thanks for everything Jami!!

soccer!!!! Here it is again! soccer season has made its way to our house again. So far Alli is doing really good. They have won every game. And (knock on wood) the weather has been wonderful so far. Can't beat that. Here is my beautiful daughter in some great soccer poses. you go girl!

Medical update

Kind of. Ok so all of Joeys blood tests came back ok. And now I am thinking that Joeys Dr. is starting to maybe listen to me. I have thought for a very long time now that Joey has cushings syndrome. But it is one of the most dificult things to diagnose. Well the Dr. has ordered Joey to go in, (tomorrow morning) for a MRI, and ultrasound. It is so hard as a mom, you don't want anything to be wrong with your babies, but to get answers would be so nice. I do have to wait for 2 weeks to get the results I may put a pic of me in 2 weeks with gray hair on the blog. we will see. Anyway, just wanted to update everyone!!

Ok I don't know why I have been thinking about this lately, my kids have been just fine this year, as far as I know, but last year we had some problems. So I found some info on bullying that I think every parent should talk over with their kids!

1. Talk to your child about BEING A LEADER and not a follower.
2. Teach them to NOT ACCEPT bullying in their group of friends.
3. Teach them that it is RIGHT to stand up for somebody being picked on.
4. Teach them that it is kind and good to SEEK OUT those that aren't being included, and include them in activities, the lunch room, parties, etc.
5. Tell them it is RIGHT to report bullying to the teachers.
6. Teach them it's MORE IMPORTANT to do what's right than to be popular.
7. ASK THEM about their friends and how they treat others.
8. TELL THEM about how bullying and having no friends can affect children.
9. SHOW THEM by example how to be considerate and thoughtful of others feelings.
10. KNOW the signs of bullied children and be open-minded that YOUR child might be the bully.
* NEVER DO NOTHING! *

Ok enough of my parenting advice for one day.

This picture was taken the night before Jason's surgery. He was so adorable. He fell asleep on the living room floor, and it looked like he was praying. Well if he was, it helped, his surgery went just fine. We are now on our second set of tubes, and minus the adnoides. They also cauterized his nose, so hupefully he won't have as many nose bleeds as he has been having. He was such a trooper. And now today, you would have no clue that he had surgery. I have a superman baby!!!! Ok so he is not a baby, but since he is my baby, I can still call him that. Also those of you who have been following my medical challenges with Joey, he went back in yesterday, They have finally said he has a 'problem' not sure what to call it yet, but we are one step closer. He is growing abnormally fast. in the last 5 months, his bones have grown the equivilant (sp) of 18 months. So we are waiting on some blood work, then off to the endocrinologist. I have a sinking feeling that this is just the begining. Even though I have been trying to get this figured out for 2 years now, I still feel we are closer to the begining than the end. So stay tuned, and I will keep you all posted, and if you feel so inclined, we take as many prayers as you want to give.

Wow what a weekend!!

This is how we all felt after this last weekend. But of course, you do know that I am the one taking the picutre, not the one sleeping, but I couldn't resist this cute pair of sleeping babes. And to say that I was extremely jealous it wasn't me sleeping! Happy fall!!!

It finally feels like fall, I had to get my decor up, and these are Jason's little buddies. He has loved them since he was born!! And now he has his friends back.

Tribute to my wonderful aunt! Barbara, you will be missed more than you know. You are more than a family friend, you are part of our family. Reunions, family parties, staying up half the night playing games, will never be the same! Your absence will leave a huge hole in our hearts. We all love you so much, and know that you are with grandpa now, watching over all of us.

Recipe for

Easy Cinnamon roll muffins

(pictured below)

1 1/2 c. flour

1/3 c. sugar

1/4 tsp salt

4 tsp. active dry or rapid rise yeast

2/3 c. warm milk

3 TB vegetable oil

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 large egg

filling/topping

2 TB butter room temperature

2/3 c. brown sugar

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

icing

1 c. powdered sugar

1-2 TB milk

combine flour, sugar, and salt. dissolve the yeast in a cup filled with the warmed milk. then stir the milk mixture, oil, vanilla, and egg into the flour mixture. mix well till very smooth. let rest for 15 min.

while the dough rests, mix together butter brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a small bowl using a fork till all the butter has been mixed into sugar, and it is crumbly.

Divide the batter between 12 greased muffin cups. sprinkle the topping on the muffins, and using your finger or a spoon press the filling/topping down into the muffin. place pan in a cold oven, then set temp to 350 Bake for about 20 min. cool for 15-20 min. wisk icing together, pour over top of cooled muffins.

ENJOY

What do I want to be when I grow up???

I have been reflecting the past few days, wondering if there is something missing from my life that I could be doing to help me feel more fullfilled? Well, not really, I feel pretty good about what I do in my life, but.........if the opportunity ever came along, I would LOVE to own a bakery!

Everybody knows I love to bake, almost anything! These are my latest 'I am alone for 2 1/2 hours a day' activities.

these are peanut butter filled cookies, covered in white, or pink or whatever, chocolate.

YUM!! The kids came home from school, and that was the end of these cookies.

And then these! I love cinnamon rolls, these are the easy version. They are cinnamon muffins. Just look at that fluffy center. Big hit at the carroll house. If you want the recipe, just let me know!!!
I gotta go work out now, all these sweets are not good for the hips.

First day of preschool.

I was so impressed with my babies. They were excited, they walked right in, and pretty much looked over their shoulder saying..."are you still here?" When did they get so big? And of course Jason goes straight for the puzzles!

Salt and Pepper with their backpacks on, ready for the first day of preschool!!!

Happy birthday to you...Happy birthday to you....Happy birthday dear Jason (I can't believe you're already 4) Happy birthday to you. Oh my sweet baby the past 4 years years have gone by soooooo fast. They have been so fun and full of adventure. Thanks for making me soooo happy. This pic is of Jason showing off his frosting covered hands after licking the transformer figure cake toppers clean.
Jason blowing out the candles on his transformers cake.

Jason's present from aunt melie! Awesome, we love george.

Jason with all his presents. I asked him if we should skip christmas since he was so spoiled. He said not yet. Thanks to everyone who gave JJ a present, he had so much fun, and loved everything so much.

THOMAS another carroll household fav! Thanks grandpa Roy and grandma Sally. He loved it, and for the book, and outfit, Mr. Strong loves everything!

Grandma and Grandpa's weekend visit!!

Grandma and grandpa Carroll came up for the weekend to celebrate Jason's birthday. We had so much fun with them. But I think they went home pretty tired, after the...lets go on a walk, lets play a game, read to me, lets go to the school to play, will you fix my bike, lets clean out the shed together. We may have taken advantage of them a little bit. But we hope they had enough fun to come back up soon.Here is Jason opening the present from grandma and grandpa, he loved the puzzle, and book!!

Jason reaching in the money bag. He hasn't quite figured out how to get a lot of money, but that will come with time.
Grandpa reading to miss Alli!

Grandpa and grandma stopped at a fruit stand, and found this humongous cantaloupe. It is the biggest one I have ever seen!! AND it tasted good. Joey was in heaven!

Our wonderful g & g also surprised us by stopping at the sock shop on thier way up here. Here we all are in our new socks, and what you don't see, is when my kids get new socks, they immediatly spray the hardwood floor with pledge, and go sock skating. Over the next few days, there were many slips, and falls, but no broken bones, and many laughs!!

Thanks g & g for a great visit!! come again we dare you!

Ok so those of you who know me pretty well, know I have somewhat obsessive compulsive tendencies. Well I was having a bad day the other day, and I decided to have a handful of m n m's to make everything better. Because of course chocolate makes everything better right??? So when I eat m n m's I have to eat them in 2's and they have to be the same color, at the end of the handful, if there are any single m's left I have to put them back. I know I know you don't have to say it. So anyway, I grabbed a handful of the yummy chocolate stress relievers, and grabbed the exact right amount, I ate the whole handful 2 at a time, 2 blues...2 reds... 2 greens...etc . and when I was done there were none left, the perfect handful of m's. What a great way to change a day from bad to good.

I wish you all the perfect handfull of m n m's today!!

First day of school treats

Every year I make the kids a special treat for the first day of school. This year I made rice krispie treats that look like pencils. They loved them. And they all had a pretty good first day. (minus some trouble getting a locker open).

My babies are growing up!!

first day of school

Farewell summer!!

Its been a wonderful summer. We have had so much fun this summer, but even the kids were ready for school to start today. And they sure looked cute this morning! I only have 2 more weeks till preschool then the big list of what I need to get done starts. But for now, I am excited for the kids today. I don't know who is more nervous, me or them. I actually have a son in middle school wow thats so crazy!!

Ok so I decided to try and make a different bag, Brian and I made this bag out of a 'hit the deck' deck of cards, and packing tape. It turned out pretty cute I think. WELCOME HOME CODY! We are so excited for Cody to be home, our first missionary in the Carroll family!!

Daddy Daughter moment.
I looked over and saw Alli and Brian in a cute conversation.

Survival of the fitest

We made it!!!

Our last summer adventure. And what an adventure it was. But we made it.

This is zach, and chase (charlie snuck in too) but Zach and Chase pretty much ran up the mountain. Oh how would it be to be young again!! I was wondering if I would make it and these show offs ran the whole way. Alli standing close to the top showing off how far up we were.
Grandpa, Joey, Alli, and Abby taking a small break on our way up the mountain. But they were all troopers, there was no complaining while hiking (well a little from me) but I was so proud of all of them, even you grandpa!


Jason and Morgan how cute are these two!!! And they walked all the way. wow pretty impressive.

And the proof that we made it to the top,this is the sign at the entrance to the cave.

Downey fair week!!!

I stayed so busy this week, I didn't even have time to take my camera out. This was on friday the last day, Brian actually took the pictures because somehow I was talked into going down the big water slide. here is my little Alli on the slide. Joey loved it too, but we didn't get a picture of him, he's too fast, Zach, Abby, and Jason didn't want to go on it.
Here I am, climbing up the lovely stairs I am surprised I even made it up to the top. And I have to say, my friend Deb was at the top, but she had to help everybody up, not just me!


Ok so here we are, Jennie, Brianna, and me trying to reclaim our youth!!!

Twin lakes fishing trip.

We had decided that we didn't get to do much this summer besides swimming lessons, and hanging out at the pool, which we did ALOT, so we wanted to spend the day fishing, and camping, and hanging out. (this was before the downey fair, but I didn't have time to do my blog) Big borther teaching little brother how to fish, They were so cute, Jason was just ready listen, and learn.

Alli and Zach swimming in the lake, looks like those swiming lessons paid off!

more playing in the water

Jason had an ear infection while we were there, he played a little, but most of the time he stood around looking like this! I felt bad for him, but he was still pretty cute!

This is about the only thing we caught fishing! A big stick, but he was proud he was the one to catch something.
Abby and Jason playing in the water.

Zach and Joey figuring out the fishing pole. How adorable are the men in my life!

Abby chillin on the chair.

Spending the day fishing.