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Friday, November 28, 2008

Well I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving. We are spending the rest of our holiday weekend at my mother-in-laws house. It is a nice break from our house. I won't be able to post any pictures until we get back home. So for now, sorry just typing.

We had a wonderful day yesterday. We spent the morning and early afternoon at Will's moms. We had all the family in town which was about 40 people. We saw many relatives we hadn't seen in a looong time. So long that some hadn't even met the small boys yet. It was great seeing everyone.

In the afternoon we headed back to Des Moines and spent the evening at my moms house. Needless to say we had quite the spread at both houses and we way overate! We headed back up to Colo and spent the night there playing cards and games.

Mary, Jen and I are going to do Christmas baking all day today. I am excited for that. We will see what all we get accomplished with all the chit chatting and coffee drinking going on!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Ugh. My brain hurts. I have been sitting here reading other blogs for the past hour. Have you ever done that? Click on one blog then read something that takes you to another and then another. I have gotten some good ideas on cooking, budgeting, Christmas giving, and crafts. Ohhh I am so overwhelmed. I thought I was tired before.

I have been baking like crazy the last 24 hours. So far I have made...

2 pans of pumpkin bars
2 loaves of pumpkin bread
pumpkin muffins
2 loaves of poppy seed bread
4 loaves of cinnamon bread
1 Cherry pie

I still need to make cinnamon rolls, pink salad and greenbean casserole x 2. While alot of this is for Thanksgiving dinner (we are attending 2 on Thanksgiving day) I figured while everything was out I might as well freeze some to enjoy later. My kitchen is a disaster but smells wonderful right now!! Ahhh.

I will probably not post now for a few days. I am hoping things will slow down a bit over the long holiday weekend. Things have been a little stressful here at the Figgins household but I never forget how lucky I am. I am truely thankful and very blessed.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Friday, November 21, 2008

No Knead Bread

Here is a recipe for no knead bread. I found it somewhere online. The boys and I made it yesterday and it turned out pretty good and it was very easy.

2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
2 Tablespoons sugar or honey
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups warm water
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour


Combine the yeast, sugar, water and salt and let set 10 minutes.
Add in the flours and stir until mixed well.
Place dough in a well greased bowl and cover with a towel. Let rise for 1 1/2 hours.
Shape into 2 loaves and place on a cookie sheet.
Bake 375 degrees for 30 minutes.


Thursday, November 20, 2008

Tuesday night we had Jakes Band and Choir performance at school. He did a really good job. It is amazing how much difference 1 year makes. The 7/8 grade band was great. Jake really isn't digging choir so I think he is going to drop out at the end of the quarter. That is ok with me though. He is liking concert band and jazz band much more and seems to stay busy with that.

In this picture he is in the middle on the top row. Click on the picture for a better view.

Last night was family night. My turn again. I opted for a nice quiet night. Everyone has been a little testy lately and not sleeping well so I thought a movie was a good option. I rented Kung Fu Panda. We all like it alot. I felt a little lazy though because I didn't make any cool desserts or plan anything real exciting. My goal was to have some type of dessert each Wednesday. Oh well, we did have popcorn and left over icecream I guess that is something.

Drew has his 2 year check yesterday. He weighed in at 30.8 pounds and 36 inches long. He is 75% for weight and 90% for height. He is doing really good.

Lastly here is a couple pictures of the new tool I made the little boys. There is different colored pockets that I made and glued to cardboard covered with paper. Then I colored popsicle sticks to match the colored pockets. I also wrote numbers on each one so they could match the color or the number. Then they can just drop the stick into the correct pocket. Brodie did great and got the hang of it. He already knows his colors-I made the numbers on them more for him. Drew just liked putting the sticks in any random pocket. He wasn't very impressed.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Is this just something a boy is born to do???

Monday, November 17, 2008



This morning we were trying out the new lacing cards I got Drew for his birthday. That challenge only lasted about 5 1/2 minutes. Then it turned into waving the shoestring for the cat to play with. So, we switched gears and made these cat toys out of yarn, feathers and sticks. I am not sure who had more fun. Brodie or Jinx.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Happy Birthday Drew Bug!!!


My baby is 2 years old today. We had a nice birthday party for him last night with family and did our usual birthday breakfast for him this morning. Pancakes with sprinkles and bacon. Here is a picture of his cake. I think he liked it! It is hard to imagine he is this big. Time goes so fast.

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. I wish tomorrow wasn't Monday already. We have a busy week ahead.

Friday, November 14, 2008

ABC Book

Drew didn't sleep good again last night. Will slept with him in the chair. Then he was up for good this morning at 5:30am. He still hasn't fallen asleep for his nap yet...I noticed a little drainage coming out of his ear this morning so I am guessing he has another infection.

On a happier note I finally got my ABC book for Brodie done. Now I just have to take it to get it laminated somewhere. I am pretty happy with how it turned out.

I also had to post this picture of Jake and our cat. This is the picture I used for J in the ABC book. I told Jake to hold the cat and the cat turned and licked him on the check. It was really funny. See...our cat really is nice, some people don't believe me.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Can I start this day over?

My morning started shortly after midnight. Drew was up till about 2:30am tossing and turning on my lap because of a stuffed up nose. Once I finally got to sleep I woke back up at 5:30. I got Jake up for jazz band, stumbled out to make my coffee which I forgot to get ready last night, turned it on, came in to check my email only to sit for 15 min. realizing the coffee wasn't done. I forgot to plug in the cord.

I plugged in the cord, got in the shower, halfway mid rinse of my hair the hot water runs out. I finish rinsing in a cold shower. I get dressed and come out to the living room to hear my oldest complain about the shoes I just went and bought him last night for his band concert on Tue. (he was suppose to wear his uniform to school this last Tues. to show the teacher, but didn't have any shoes till last night cause he forgot to tell me, so he was going to wear his uniform today) The shoes apparently hurt his feet so he can't wear them. This is the same problem I have had with him the last 3 attempts at buying shoes. Fine, we will take them back and look for different shoes that will probably hurt his feet.

My bother stops to pick Jake up for band. Happy to get him out the door and thinking that the little kids are going to possibly sleep in for a bit I sit down to the computer to do a little surfing and out pops both boys. 6:40am Usually on days like this with early starts I have to go somewhere to save my sanity. Unfortunately for me, Will's car is not functioning so he been using the van, leaving me with no transportation. Uhg. It is going to be a long day.

Now I sit here and it has taken me 15 min to write a 5 minute blog. Drew is on my lap helping and I just realized I have 2 cups of coffee in front of me. I think I will need them both!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Well, things have been busy around here. Nothing too out of the ordinary I guess. The little boys have been really struggling with naps and sleeping in general. My mother-in-law told me they inherited that from their father. Drew has been taking naps off and on but when he does this is where he has chosen to sleep.

Right in the middle of the hallway. I can't get him to sleep in his bed. This is where he falls asleep at night too. I can remember sleeping in the hallway too when I was little. Strange huh? I guess he got that from me.

Brodie is officially potty trained now. On week 2 of underwear and so far we have been extremely lucky and he hasn't had any accidents. It is nice to have only 1 child in diapers. It has been 2 years since I have had that!

Tony is playing basketball now. He isn't really liking the team he is on. He has a kid who has been bullying him and we are now in the process of switching teams or having the other child switch teams. Tonight Tony was in tears cause the other kid put Tony in a choke hold and threatened him. Poor kid. He is really having a rough go of it here lately.

Jake is busy with jazz band. He has practice 2 mornings a week. He also is working on a culture project right now for Social Studies. His grades are slowly improving.

Overall everyone is doing fine. Looking forward to the holidays. I went through Christmas gifts today. I have gotten a pretty good start. Crazy to think it is almost Thanksgiving and then it will be Christmas!

I'll end the night with a picture of the projects the kids and I have been working on. The Indian corn was made by Tony, the small turkey by Brodie and the large turkey by Drew.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

We had a busy and long weekend. Saturday I spent the day cleaning at my moms shop. Christmas is coming soon and that is her busiest time of the year. I will be helping out there now and then through the next couple months. Saturday night Will and his family went to his cousins school play in Indianola. I spent the evening with the younger kids and once they got off to sleep I got some work done on the ABC book I am putting together for Brodie for Christmas. Then once everyone returned home we played cards till 12:30am!

The boys were up early around 7ish this morning, actually sleeping in for them. I just couldn't drag myself out of bed since I have been only getting roughly 5 hours of sleep the last few nights. Will got up with the kids and I snoozed for another hour or so. I got some errands done this morning and then Will and Jake spent the afternoon at my step-brothers watching football.

Now its only 7pm and I am ready to call it a day. Sorry no pictures tonight. I am just too tired. Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Totbook and Lapbook






Here is my other 3 tot books I have made for the little boys. I am planning on giving at least one for a Christmas present to Brodie. Drew is still a bit young I think. With the Cars book I made Brodie he tries to pull the pages off. Maybe in a few months he will be able to enjoy them too.

Here also is a turkey color matching game I put together for the boys. I printed the template off the computer onto cardstock, then colored it and had it laminated. I glued it onto this file folder. I have another one I want to do with ice cream scoops. It should be pretty fun too! I think that one I will do colors and numbers.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

I struggled with a migraine off and on today. It never got real bad. I started a new medicine that I take when I feel one coming on and it seemed to work. Of course I had to take 2 doses but it is better then the other kinds I have tried that didn't help at all. Tonight it is a lot better.

The boys and I had fun making these turkeys today. Brodie is doing so good at gluing and making projects. His attention span is getting a lot better.

Tonight was family night. We took the boys out to dinner to celebrate Jake getting an A+ on his states and capitols test. I am not sure how he managed to pull it off but he did. When we went over it with him on Monday he got 19 out of 50 right. So getting 100% 2 days later is pretty impressive! It was his family night too, so after dinner we rented a movie. It was nice to just relax a bit tonight.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

This was how Drew looked when he walked out of his bedroom from his afternoon nap the other day.

Monday, November 3, 2008

I hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween. Here is a picture of my guys on Begger's night. Jake obviously didn't go trick or treating, just hung out with his buddies.



We spent the night at my in-laws house on Friday. It was Begger's Night there so we went out for a short while. Then we spent the evening playing cards. Saturday was a lazy day and we spent part of the afternoon napping . The whole family has had the sniffles, Will worse than any of us. So it was nice to get to sleep. We went home in the evening and Jake had a friend over. After the boys went to bed I hung around and did laundry while Will played on the computer.

Sunday was lazy too, with all of us still sick. We didn't even play outside much and the weather was so beautiful. Maybe today will be better. I did get all my Thanksgiving decorations out. I can't believe November is here already.