Choir Concert

McKenzie's first choir concert of this year was Thursday night.  The theme was "Sing" and McKenzie and the choirs did a great job!  Here are a few pictures from the show.

                                                            HOMECOMING 2013

David, McKenzie and her friend Kaitlin went to the homecoming game tonight. Matt didn't want to go so he and I had "game night" here at home. He is my little buddy. I think Sorry is his favorite. I think it's somebody else's favorite too. Of course every few minutes Nick sweeps the board!

Fall...where are you?  It is still so hot here.  I thought I would help the season along by hanging my fall wreath. I love burlap and wanted something bright and simple for the front door. Can't wait to buy fall mums and pumpkins at the end of the month. It is my favorite time of the year!

Wordless Wednesday

American Ninja Pot Roast

Ok, that title doesn't make any sense.  This post is a mash-up of Betty's amazing pot roast and Matt's obsession with American Ninja Warrior.  First, here's Betty telling about the pot roast then I'll be back to talk about Matt the Ninja.

I wanted to share my recipe for this delicious roast we had tonight for supper. It cooked all day in the crock pot and smelled amazing. Hope you will give it a try...

Mississippi Crock-Pot Roast
Ingredients:
  Chuck Roast or Rump Roast
1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch
1 packet McCormick Au Jus mix
1 stick of butter
5 whole pepperoncini (from jar)

Directions:
1. Brown roast then place in crock pot.
2. Sprinkle with ranch mix and au jus mix
3. Place stick of butter and pepperoncinis on top of roast.
4. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

Suggestions: Don't put potatoes, carrots, etc. in the crock pot with the roast. The vegetables will soak up all the yummy gravy.
You can add a little water to the gravy after cooking.

Matt's favorite show on TV right now is American Ninja Warrior.  If you haven't seen it, it's a competition where people try to make it through a very difficult obstacle course and make it to the finals in Las Vegas.  They Vegas finals have four stages and no person has ever completed all four stages in the previous four seasons.  Whenever he watches it, it fires Matt up so much that he has to start running around the house jumping over stuff and climbing the door facings!  Those of you who know Betty know that that is not something she is very keen on.  It just shows you how much Matt has her wrapped around his little finger that she lets him get away with it!

Thursday I took Matt to the park and let him try out some of his "ninja" moves.  Here are some pictures and a little video clip.

Congrats Matt!

Today Matt was awarded Super Charger for the month of August for Mrs. Keys Class. At the Lower Elementary each month a different child gets this from each class based on showing the Charger traits... being respectful, caring, responsible and safe. I  could tell when I put him in the car this afternoon he had something good to tell me because he had that tongue in his cheek. He was so excited to tell me.  Also, his class was awarded Super Charger class of the month by their assistant principal. They will get to have a popsicle party tomorrow. Way to go Matt!! We are so proud of you!!

Everyone at our house is so glad it's Labor Day weekend!! We have survived our first month of school.  I'm so thankful we have had a smooth transition back into our school routine. I am also thankful for great teachers this year, too. McKenzie has 6 teachers in 7th grade. She says she likes her schedule better this year in that classes change every 50 minutes and that helps the day go by much faster. Now we are trying to get use to Common Core. She is also a teacher helper during second period for our friend Emily Hatcher. She loves doing that!  McKenzie made the choir Starz for 7th. She is also taking dance again with Mandy at Charisma two nights a week.  She will begin classes next week.  Matt is in Looping and has Mrs. Keys for second grade. He will also have her again next year for 3rd. He was chosen for the LEAP program  and started this week and is really enjoying it. Beverly Waters is his teacher for that class which meets everyday during his specials time.
Here is McKenzie on school picture day. We love this day because she gets to wear what she wants and no boring uniform ha!

And Matt after school one day.

Someone misses his brother everyday and has to have lots of attention after school!!

Not much going on other than getting everyone back into their routines. This past week I was very happy to finally get my house painted!! We lined up a painter last fall and he never came and again this past spring a different painter and he never came. But finally we found someone and he did a great job. Here are a few "after pictures". I used the same colors. Our house really needed painting right after we moved in almost four years ago but we found other things that needed attention instead. It's nice to have a freshly painted house for fall!! The main thing I wanted was for my front door to be brought back to life and I think he did a great job. It was so tired and faded looking and now looks brand new.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!!

Getting Ready for School...

It's that time of year again...time to get ready to go back to school. McKenzie will be a 7th grader and Matt, a second grader. Time please slow down!!!  We had such a great summer. It went by really fast.
We went to meet our teachers Wednesday and their first day was Thursday.
McKenzie made a cute little video showing all their new supplies we bought for school. She is always watching videos on YouTube that kids make, so she wanted to do one, too. She begged Matt to be in it with her but being on camera is just not his thing, so McKenzie will show his stuff, too.


Here are a couple of pictures from their first day.

Not to be outdone, Matt decided he wanted to make a video, too. Here's his video of his train tracks that he built himself.