Party grill night!!!

almost 2 years ago, after having a 'party grill' party with friends, i decided to invest in one of our own. well, this afternoon, i dusted it off and a party was had!!
the boys thought this was the "COOLEST THING EVER"!!! normally, i would have cut up chicken, steak, lots of veggies but since it was a last-minute party, we made do with what we had. pancake mix, eggs, mushrooms, ham, cheese, french bread, pizza sauce and pepperoni. oh,the things that can be created with just a few ingredients!! (i'm liking this cooking thing). max was the bravest of the group. big shocker coming from the boy who LOVES food! he has some unidentified combinations on his plate but who cares, he ate it. :)
sam suggested that we make this our Sunday night tradition! it was unanimous!!

One of lifes MOST PRECIOUS sightings......one of my boys reading the BEST book ever written!

money well spent.....

there are things that they are 'required' to do simply because they belong to our family. however, i am NOT above paying my children for certain extra chores around the house...especially those that i HATE to do. folding socks is one of those chores!! i love doing laundry, love the sorting, washing and i don't even mind the folding but its the sorting of the socks that i could do without. ssssooooo, on Saturday, when i noticed that socks were running low in drawers, i decided to put out all the stops and see which kid i could 'sucker' into doing it for me. first i offered one penny a pair. i had 0 takers. so i upped the auntie (i know that isn't the right way to spell it. whatever) to FIVE cents a pair!!! i now had TWO takers!!! it cost me a whopping $2.05. best money i spent in weeks!! they even asked if they could do it next Saturday too. it's worth it to me to possibly give up a coffee from starbucks a week, just to have a few sock-fairies in the house!! yup, think i'm on to something here.........

Sam's 4th grade class christmas party.....