Random pix

Now that Stan's going back to school, this is where Stan has spent 90% of his time the last few weeks. Poor guy :(

p>

Todd and his cute little neighbor friend were playing so cute with the girls, that I decided to preserve the moment. I figured I could look back at it on other not so peaceful days.

My shaggy little Indy pup! Boy does she need a hair cut. I can't believe how big she's grown since we got her.

In a dinner rut? Give these a try ;)

I stayed in my P.J.’s all day today. I should be receiving my monthly visitor in a few days, and I can already feel my body dragging. I hate it because I have no motivation, and I hate everyone and everything for no particular reason. I hate it because I’m not that sort of person at all. (Notice all the usage of the word hate?) I’m always happy and ready to tackle the next big project. But now that I've been having a consistent period for the last 6 months I get to go to doom and gloomsville for about 5 days every month. So Stupid! lol
Anyway...tonight I tried a new biscuit recipe for dinner. I finally got some rave reviews from my little food critics. Lately I haven't been doing so hot. Either I screw the food up somehow (burning uhmmm...I mean it’s Cajun style!) or I don’t screw it up, but they still don’t like it. Tonight I got thank you’s across the board and even a hug :) Wow! Maybe I won’t throw in the cooking towel. Oh, by the way the recipe is a Whole wheat, cheesy, sweet potato biscuit. They turned out very close to the texture of the cheesy biscuits that they serve at Red Lobster. We also had T-bone steak and roasted asparagus. Here’s the recipe if you want to try them out:

Note: these are drop biscuits. It saves me the time of not having to scrub off my counter when I do it this way.
Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour plus 1 cup whole wheat flour
6 tsp. baking powder
3 teaspoons white sugar
2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons shortening
1 ½ cup mashed sweet potatoes ;plus ¼ cup heavy cream (optional) I had some in my fridge I needed to use up and I used it to smooth out my blended canned sweet potatoes.
½ cup milk
¾ cut thinly shredded cheese

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Cut in the shortening until pieces of shortening are pea-sized or smaller. Mix in the sweet potatoes, and milk. It will make a thick sticky dough. Now fold in the cheese.
Use a spoon or mechanical scoop to drop desired sized biscuits onto greased cookie sheet. I made mine a little larger than a ping pong ball.

Bake for 12 to 15
minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.
This recipe makes about 22 biscuits.

Enjoy :)

Tiger camp?

Sophie came home with a Tigerettes Dance flyer yesterday. After I read through it I said, Hey Sophie, Wanna go to a Tigerettes camp this summer? Sophie then Cocks her head to the side, raises an eyebrow and then says, Hhhmmm...Yeah...I think I want to go to that camp, I'm not afraid of tigers.


I'm still laughing! What a brave kid. She's always ready for anything;)

Daddy always brings home the good stuff!

Of course the kids and I miss Stan when he's gone on Guard weekends,

but the boys think all the cool Army gear is a definite perk!

This pack is almost as big as he is!

He looks like he's ready for anything! :)

Do those look like bored, uninterested boys?

I love Todd's face. This is very serious business, you know!

t. g. i. f.

I'm so looking forward to tomorrow. I finally have a free Saturday with absolutely nothing scheduled. Well not nothing...I'm hoping to get a move on it and get my Christmas tree down and put away. I've noticed a few cobwebs! Grayden stayed home from school today and yesterday with a light fever and sore throat. But I don't think he was the least bid sad about it because I've let him watch movies on Netflix the whole time. Layla got some kind of gombu too, but because she doesn't have the gift of gab yet I have to just guess what she's suffering from. Her nose has been running constantly. Luckily she's finally learned how to blow her nose so we haven't had to hold her down kicking and screaming to get the snot off her face. Any who....One doesn't get much done with sick kids around is all I can say. I'm ready for bed!

Another missing tooth!

It seemed like we waited forever for Grayden to start loosing his baby teeth. The first tooth he lost was the top right one. And that was the only one for a long time. So long in fact that it completely grew in before any of his other 8 front teeth fell out. But now they all just seem to be jumping out! He lost both of the bottom teeth on the sides only days apart. He's so darn cute I can barely stand it!


Our little Indy pup puts up with a whole lot from the kids. She's the perfect mix of cuddle and play. (I know she needs a hair cut, I'm waiting for it to warm up a bit) The girls had so much fun playing with this laundry basket today. They entertained themselves for at least an hour.

Such sweet, happy little cuties....

You know you really love someone when you think they're cute when they have a runny nose.

More than half way

Is anyone else out there mystified at the rate that our current month has gone by? I still have my dang Christmas tree up! Maybe I should just take the Christmas decorations off, and hang a bunch of hearts on it for V-day....hhhmmm....probably not. It's just been super busy around here. Who would have thought that Stan going back to school would mean more work and less time for me? OK, I'm not completely naive I knew it was going to be a whole new way of life, but that doesn't mean I was ready for it. If anyone that's done the back to college drill has any tips for me I'm completely open to them.
Today's princess academy was a success. The little girls had a ball and we made it through the whole 2 hours with only one mess. And it almost shouldn't count because Layla made it. Tonight I asked Sophie what her favorite part of Princess Academy was and she said, "it was the dancing and the drawing and the music." I wish I would have taken pictures, but it was all I could do to keep the girls entertained and keep Layla out of trouble. Instead I've posted this picture of Sophie in one of the dress-ups she got for Christmas. She's such a ham ;)

The Dutton's are all Geeked out

Soooo.....Stan got a new laptop a couple weeks ago. Mostly we purchased it so when he's deployed in June he can Skype us, but it's sure nice to have for all his Army online courses, and Dixie school work.

After we got the kids in bed tonight I sat down in bed with my laptop. I was on a mission to look up some last second lesson plan ideas for Princess Academy (Sophie's all girl joy school) in the morning. Stan was in his office and he had been on his laptop all day trying to finish up his English paper and zip through some of his Army courses. As I'm sitting there Stan comes in with his laptop and sits on the bed next to me. I know we're thinking the same thing. We've been in the same house all day, but haven't spent one second together! As we sit in silence for a few minuets working at our machines, Stan all the sudden starts to laugh. Is this what we've reduced to? A couple of computer geeks who stare at their laptops all day? Are we going to have to IM each other so we can talk? lol....I message him back. Just kidding ;) I used my actual voice. I have to admit we probably did look pretty funny the two of us sitting there in bed staring at our computers.