MOCHA MORNINGS

N ew Year Resolutions?   I refuse to set such insane goals for myself so that when I once again begin to fall behind, become disorganized and gain weight I will not feel like a FAILURE!!  Instead I will try my best to eat healthy so that I will feel more like staying on top of things and hopefully the organization fairy will slap me in the face with her wand which will probably be more effective than me making a resolution to be more organized anyway. I am actually looking forward to saying goodbye to 2010 and can only hope that with the arrival of 2011 my kids will magically start getting along, cleaning up their messes and not break everything in their paths.  Then, all will be right with the world. H a p p y N e w Y e a r ! !

Wow, is really all I can say about this news report! My son and husband watch this on a daily basis!   My Christmas gift to my hubby was an iphone 4.  I introduced him to Words with Friends...yeah!  Now I have found that the most effective way to communicate with him is to message him when it is my turn to play a word.  Houston, we may have a problem here! Who knew trying to get a picture for the McKnight Family Christmas card would be such a challenge?  This one almost made the cut....just keepin' it real! L is for Lindor Chocolate! Yum! Oh, what I have been missing out on all these years!!  

After having a virus on my computer for a couple of months, my husband took five minutes of his time and FINALLY fixed it for me last night. So, I'm back and can't wait to start blogging again!

ADVICE ON HOW TO PREVENT THIS FROM HAPPENING TO YOU! never, NEVER , bake a cake with wild heathen children in attendance. never wait til the last minute to bake a birthday cake because then there will not be enough time to bake another one in case an emergency occurs. never flip a 13x9 sheet cake out of the pan into the palm of your hand, always flip it out onto a baking sheet, or large cutting board. NEVER hold the cake over the sink and especially over a bowl of water while removing from pan. lastly, always have some backup cupcakes, cookies, etc., to feed the wild devil children who had caused you to lose your mind and flip your cake out into the sink to begin with! 

i t is 5:54 a.m. and i have been awake since 4:00  a.m.  i need one of these, PLEASE!! t he stinking Yanks beat our Rangers last night in New York. no worries though, we are still leading the series 3-2 and we are playing back in teXas on friday.  i really hope they win, because there were a lot of sad texans at church last night after they lost.  the entire upsetting story can be found here, on msnbc.com. t his, by far, has been one of the longest weeks ever.  on tuesday, i kept thinking it was thursday and it seems like tuesday was forever ago!  today is pizza day at the  preschool and i am already looking forward to 2:00, sonic happy hour, so i am cruise on over and get a diet dr. pepper with vanilla.  seems like i always  have the same friendly hispanic lady bring me my drink and when she announces my order the vanilla just rolls off her tongue.  my husband can do the perfect impression. i just enjoy the drin...

GO RANGERS! only one more game to win. next stop world series! today's game time: 3:07 p.m. TBS DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS !! photo from: msnbc.com

CHEESE!! jaxon and his "pumps" from the farm. yeah, he kinda likes 'em, a lot!

This morning before school Ethan was silently sitting in the dining room eating a bowl of Corn Flakes and I was in the kitchen whipping up school lunches with a toddler hanging from my leg.  Then, out of the blue, I hear, "My name is Ethan and I can do COOL tricks!" ...and then he takes another bite of cereal. After breakfast we proceeded to get ready for school.  Since today is picture day, instead of his uniform, he could wear "Sunday Best".  After getting dressed and being very upset that he was having to wear long pants and not shorts, he asked, "Today we go to PE and how am I suppose to run in this?"  I let him wear his Silly Bandz bracelets and then he was okay with wearing the pants. Go figure.

Hmmm... *sigh*....ahhh.....as i sit here and ponder over something witty to say about this, the only thing that really comes to mind is, well, the truth.  daddy was "watching" (and i use the word 'watching' very loosely) the kids while mommy was out and when i got home the shift button on my practically new lap top was missing.  according to the hubs, this wasn't the only key that got tampered with,  but luckily he was able to get the other's popped back on.  *deep breath*  the kid responsible for this is only two years old and is currently unemployed, so looks like the cost of this repair is coming out of daddy's pocket. this picture makes me laugh. life is such an adventure and just looking at this picture of my husband and our two youngest sons sitting in this car made out of balloons puts a smile on my face. of course, the 13 year old wouldn't DARE join in on the fun, but little does he know that one da...

If you are ever in Magnolia, Arkansas I suggest you eat at The Backyard Bar-B-Que .  Honestly, I don't know why anyone would ever really have a reason to go to Magnolia as there really is nothing exciting there to see or to do. But, if you are passing through on your way to a bigger and better place, stop at this dive, like we did, and get some ribs... they are the bomb! When leaving Arkansas we had some time to kill, so when we got to the state line, I made the boys jump out of the car so I could get a pic of them in front of the state welcome sign.  Clearly, they were not excited... ...so, I made them run across the street and stand in front of the Louisiana sign as well, just to torture them. They are just lucky I didn't make them pose for me when we crossed back into Texas! Just sayin'!

t hat's my oldest, #2. 8 th grade middle school football. p laying QB for the first time in his life, they put him in tonight. h e led his team down the field to score a touchdown, and then a pass for a two point conversion. t hey won. 13-6 g osh, my kid RoCKs !! 

hApPy 5th BiRThDay to my third precious son, who is now passed out in the living room floor exhausted from all the birthday fun. my husband just informed me that our house looks like an episode from hoarders . guess that's what happens when mom "takes a day off". Happy Birthday lil man!

photo courtesy of msnbc.com Browsing through the news on msnbc.com while the kids nap, I came across this story about a middle school in mississippi who has segregated its elected class positions by race. Unbelievable! Seriously, what are the superintendent, principal and teachers of this school thinking??  And what does this say for the town of Nettleton, Mississippi?  I also wonder if the town is only populated with "black" and "white" students...what about hispanics, asians and filipinos?  It's bad enough they have segregated class positions by race, but to outcast children of other races, those that don't fit under the "black or white" catagories, is just as unthinkable. If my child ever brought home anything like this from their school, not only would I pull them out of the school, but I would leave the town all together!  It is hard to imagine that there are people out there that look at this and see...

t his is little jax's favorite game at chuck E cheese. putting his token in the slot, he jumps in excitment as the machine lights up, starts making the "ding~ding~ding" sound, and those yellow balls roll down the slot. after several attemps of rolling...and tossing...and launching them up the lane, he figures out that it is much easier to just climb up the skee ball game and put the ball in the 1,000 point hole. it's amazing what you can get away with when you're 2 .   

photo courtesy of W I K IPE D I A i stand corrected.  in an earlier post i stated that i live in "east texas", which apparently is incorrect.  after being informed from another resident of corsicana and doing a little investigation myself, i think it is safe to say that i do not live in east texas, but instead north central texas. go figure! 

my third son, the picky eater, the guy who wants cereal and yogurt for dinner, loves green eggs.  he also loves hot wings, which is odd to me for a four year old, but that is a different post.  so, after reading green eggs and ham i decided to whip some up for the family.  i didn't eat any because I just can't get past them being green, but the hubs and my boys ate them up.  however, if any of you decide to serve these to your little ones, i don't suggest you let them eat large portions like i did.  that green food coloring can do some wicked things! 

this is my finger.  and yes, that is a nasty, worm gut coated, lake water infested, 5+ year old hook sticking out of it.  after getting home from the lake, a lake my family and i went to where i didn't even actually fish mind you, i opened the back hatch to the tahoe, reached in to pull out a cooler (one of those material ones, not the hard plastic ones) and i got hooked.  i have no words to describe the pain that i felt as my husband is trying to detach my finger from the cooler that this triple hook fishing lure is attached too, as well as a pair of Nike swim trunks.  as he is screaming at the 10 year old to bring him his leathermen tool, i am screaming bloody murder because every time me, the cooler or the swim trunks moved the pain became worse than any that i had ever experienced during child birth.  after my husband REFUSED to call 911 (he didn't think the incident was ambulance worthy, but he wasn't the one with the fish hook in his fi...

this morning i was scrolling through our photos from summer, thinking back to our vacation in Hawaii and how beautiful The Big Island is.  remembering what a fun time the boys had at vacation bible school and all the little day trips we took with the windows rolled down and kids screaming in the backseats. the innocence and laughter of the boys just running through the yard sprinklers and playing in the back yard on the slip-'n-slide. a lot of memories have been made this summer and i love how pictures can, for a split moment, take you back in time and bring a smile to your face. then of course, i found this picture.  the dump station picture. why my husband feels the need to capture the memory of the dump station at a t exas campground is beyond me.  but here it is, and here it will stay. m en! can someone please explain?

so yesterday, all creepy like, i snapped this picture of our mail lady from our dining room window.  i watch her, every day, deliver our mail fully decked out in clothing from head to toe.  now just a reminder, i live in east texas, so we are talking 100+ temps here currently.  as she parks her mail truck, i notice that she walks up and down our street, wearing long pants, a long hooded shirt, a hat, gloves, and holds the mail up covering her face from her nose down.  am i the only person that finds this odd? is she allergic to the sun? or just really cold natured? but why hold the mail in front of her face as she walks? i must investigate this further!

i promised earlier today, to all my facebook friends, i would blog about my CVS purchases that i got for a whopping .38 cents.  so, this is what i got, and how i did it!  a 12 pack of coca-cola classic , two big boxes of kelloggs frosted flakes , a box of huggies baby wipes and a 12 pack of scott's toilet tissue .  using my CVS card to get the sale prices, manufacturer's coupons for the baby wipes and cereal, combined with extra bucks i had obtained from other CVS purchases is how i walked out of the store with a $29.38 savings .   the cashier even commented on my accomplishment, stating, " I wished I knew how to shop like that. "  even though i was super proud of myself  for basically walking out of the store with all this free stuff, the best part of the whole experience was seeing the look on the hubby's face when i showed him what all i got for .38 cents.   

f or ice cream! if you're gonna be a member of this family, you gotta love ice cream. on this particular hot, summer  day, little man is enjoying an old fashion sundae from a diner downtown. vanilla ice cream with pineapple topping. his favorite. aw...to be a kid again. no worries. no sense of time. just enjoying the summer and his dish of ice cream. life doesn't get much better than this.

w hen you have four kids, date nights are few and far between. so, when we do get a chance to run away from all the chaos our favorite place to go is this charming little coffee shop in our town.  open late on friday nights, this has become our hang-out.  we recently have discovered the benifits of bribing our 13 year old with 10 bucks and unlimited time on the PS3 in exchange for baby-sitting his three younger brothers so that his boring parents can escape to their favorite cozy little spot, order a hot caramel mocha and play their favorite card game..."boo".  and oh how i look forward to that hour and a half of bliss, all week long!

it's been a busy summer so far, but it's been a great one.  our  trip to Hawaii was absolutely amazing.  our visit with family from kentucky has been relaxing and enjoyable.  our day trips have been fun and adventerous.  and our walks at night, trips to the ice cream store and swimming with friends have been filled with laughs and unforgetable memories.  funny how the act of balancing kids, housework, meals and just life in general always seems easier in the summer! 

d uring a recent walk in the park, my boys, as always, picked every wild flower in site to give to me. normally, i put them in my hair or behind my ear, however, on this particular day there were so many i had to find an alternate way to display these little tokens of affection.  so, what is a mother to do, but to hurridly gulp down the remaining drop of her diet dr. pepper becaue everybody knows a can makes a perfect on-the-go vase!

my sweet husband has taught our sons to pick me flowers. so, whenever we go for a walk, are at the park or even just in our back yard playing, they pick every wild flower or weed in sight and give it to me.  i absolutely adore these precious gifts from my boys.  however, my first reaction when my 4 year old picked my only iris that bloomed was to say, "no, we don't pick these", but then I stopped and thought, how in the world can i tell this sweet little boy with dirt smeared across his face and sweaty hair not to pick me flowers?  then i realized that this way, at least i get to enjoy my iris whereas if it had stayed out in my yard, unpicked, i probably wouldn't have even noticed it.  then he discovered my rose bush....

Last week after Ethan's soccer game we took a stroll over to the lake at the park so the boys could chase the ducks around.  I was rather sad that I didn't think to bring the stash of bread I have been collecting in my fridge all winter for the boys to use to feed these little creatures.  Our most exciting discovery of the day was this unclaimed egg. The little boys just thought this was the most amazing thing and the temptation to pick it up was almost too much for them.  And I have to admit, I was pretty curious about its presence as well.  I captured this picture of these three ducks waddeling around after coming out of the water.  I thought it was interesting how these three were examining this lone egg, as if they were trying to figure out who it belonged to. 

f inally got this silly census filled out and in the mail..along with a netflix movie that we have had for three weeks and never watched. oops! s o, i suppose now my family of six can rest assured knowing that we are all accounted for in this small town in Texas, just south of dallas, where we happily reside. and i can finally wake up in the morning and not have the "you need to fill out the census" thought run through my already over-loaded brain.

i  never win anything! until now ! yesterday i received an email in my gmail account from the editor of collider.com informing me that i was one of the winners of their c lash of the t itans give-away! i couldn't believe it! i seriously, never win anything. maybe this means my luck is changing! i can't even explain the excitement i was experiencing. my imagination was running wild, just wondering what i had won. i honestly felt like the dad on a c hristmas s tory who won "a major award". i wondered if my prize would have "F-R-A-G-I-L-E" stamped on the package as well! i didn't have to wait too long, because as the postman was walking up to my door yesterday afternoon, there it was, gripped tightly in his hand... my prize! after admiring my package for a couple of seconds i quickly ripped it open to find a c lash of the t itans hooded jacket. perfect for my 10 and 13 year old sons who now get to fight over who gets to wear it! thanks again c olli...

b efore... a fter... today's to-do list call cpa to double check taxes are ready to file double check pay off amount of student loans print off dave ramsey budget worksheets catch up on donation documentation call and take sonic survey for a free route 44 drink wash dishes do laundry sweep downstairs mop downstairs water plants call about relay for life info bible study meal plan make out grocery list get refund at grocery on item i was charged to much for water dog clean bathrooms entertain, feed and care for kids blog eat something, sometime shower prepare dinner clean up after dinner kids to ymca for family swim grocery shop pour myself a glass of wine sit down and develop a budget with my hubby (reason why i need the wine) and my husband wonders what I do all day!

n ot for these organic carrots.  i can proudly say that the plastic bag these delicious carrots came in was recycled, the pile of peelings, tops and ends were laid to rest in our compost pile created by my 10 year old son, and the orange, tasty, carrots themselves were happily devoured by my entire family.  no evidence that these carrots ever existed, except for this lone picture which was taken minutes before they were thrown in the broiler to steam.

"Left foot, left foot, right foot, right...." d irty feet is more like it! how in the world can one little boy's feet get this dirty? and the funny thing is, he is soooo proud of them! b oys! d irty feet, pockets full of rocks, jars filled with worms.... everyday is an adventure around here. i couldn't imagine it any other way.

h appy easter!

w hat a beautiful day for an egg hunt.   w hen the vice principal of the elementary school across the street from our house knocked on my front door on monday and asked if a class could come over on thursday and hunt eggs in our yard, i graciously said yes! how fun is that!  so, this morning, around 9 a.m. my yard was flooded with about 10 giggly parents hiding about 200 colorful easter eggs.    i love this holiday and the celebration of our risen s avior! so, to prank my husband for April Fool's Day, which btw, i just realized it was April 1, i sent him a text saying i wrecked our tahoe. he hasn't responded back!  hope he doesn't freak out too bad! April Fool's Day!

t oday's blog consists of some random, and boy do I mean random, thoughts.  aka, nothing else better to blog about... f irst, a random fact... t his morning after dropping off my 4 year old at his two day a week preschool, i went through the drive-thru at the local donut shop and got my 1 year old his donut holes and then cruised on over to sonic and got myself a vanilla diet dr. pepper.  y umtastic! s o, once back home and enjoying my delicious treat, i decide to log on to sonic's website and check out the nutritional value of this little piece of heaven i am slurping down... ... a nd was pleasantly suprised to find out that my large, diet dr. pepper with vanilla only contains 59 calories, 16 carbs and 16 grams of sugar.  so, out of curiosity i build myself a large, regular dr. pepper with vanilla and discover that it contains a whopping 305 calories with 87 carbs and 87 grams of sugar! wow ! craziness! diet all the way for me, baby! n o...