come sit awhile

a 'good for you' treat!

food network is on ALOT at our house!  

i definitely have my favorites but jackson and i both love alton brown...jackson will sit on the couch for a complete 30 minutes and watch his show.  that is saying alot considering other shows like phineus and pherb, the suite life and  ben 10, he will leave the room to go find a lego or something

but recently on Good Eats, Alton Brown was cooking up some all time favorite snack food with 'good for you' ingredients and calories on the lighter side

i was game! 

Brown Rice Crispy Bars

  

6 cups of brown puffed rice (i used a box cereal found in the organic food section at Kroger)

3 tbsp of flax seed oil plus more for the pan (unfortunately i used canola oil this time...flax seed oil was almost $10, now that i know these are so yummy i'll buy the flax seed oil...it's so good for you)

1 tbsp orange blossom honey

4 cups of mini marshmallows 

1/3 cup chopped dried cranberries

1/3 cup chopped dried cherries 

1/3 cup dried blueberries 

3/4 cup slivered almonds 

melt the marshmallows, honey and oil all together in a glass bowl (i did this in the microwave for several seconds...be sure to keep an eye on it).  once the mixture has been melted quickly add the brown rice, almonds and fruit and stir to combine.  spread the mixture evenly in a pan and let cool completely.  cut into squares and you can store in a airtight container for about 3-4 days 

*i actually used chopped dates and dried cherry flavored cranberries but i'm sure you could sub almost any dried fruit or nut

these are so good!  and of course, if you've ever seen the show he broke down the calories, sodium, fat...all that good stuff and each bar had approximately 60 calories!  not too shabby, huh?

jackson likes them...and jeff will eat them even though they do not contain chocolate

it was a WIN WIN!

a birthday on the rocks

jackson's friend, Bailey from school...had her birthday party at reality climbing yesterday and it was a blast! 

minus the sweltering heat of a warehouse with fans in 98 degree weather...just kidding kim, you know i just had to say it!

after the waivers were all turned in (with our signatures stating that no matter what injuries may occur and who cares if you leave in an ambulance or not, we will NOT sue...um, ok) just kidding, again...

the kiddos were all harnessed up and up and away they went!

 

jackson was so excited and considering he had NEVER done anything like this before, i was super proud of him!

  

he actually made it quite a bit further than this...but not to the top, no way was that about to happen!

i'm sure this is much more difficult than it looks, not a lot to step on at times

too bad i had on flip flops

it was a great birthday afternoon complete with goodie bags of cliff bars, pop rocks and the little key chain thingy that jackson "has always wanted"! 

thanks kim, we had a fun time!  and jackson wants to go back soon...i told him to check with me again in december

it's monday!

i like mondays...even when working.  crazy, i know!  but mondays are the beginning of my routine, and i need routine. 

here's what's on tap for my monday

1.  more of this

 

2.  swimming "lessons" officially begin today...which means jackson gets to swim in a normal size pool (i know what you're thinking...that boy should know what he's doing by now??  well, for the most part, he does...this is something more to do in the summer and HE LOVES IT)

3.  preparing for my garage sale. 

4.  study

5.  work out   done!

6.  post about my weekend

7.  make a list of more things that i need to get done

8.  dinner

9.  The Bachelorette

10.  home depot for PAINT!  i'm ready to paint again...i have my eye on a couple of pieces in the house!  AND i'm trying to talk myself (actually jeff) into painting our armoire that houses our 8462 lbs tv! 

happy monday!

i have to mention it

i was shocked to hear the news of michael jackson's death yesterday

i grew up with his album

(some of you may not know what that is...a big round shiny black thing that played music)

   

he was "IT"

he was "BAD"

my dad would say "bad as in good or good as in bad?"...just to aggrevate me

and he was too young

99%

for the love of summer...i believe all are well at the garrett house!  as of yesterday i am feeling almost 100%

and just for the record, any kind of sick in the summertime is for-the-birds

i haven't had my camera out in days...days, i tell you!  not like me at all, especially in the summer.

makes me kinda sad...although there isn't much to photograph while laying on the couch all day, feeling yuck

but now since the weather is absolutely H-O-T here 

something like 94 degrees yesterday...ugh

summer is on and this is where you'll find us

 

in the back yard

 

out by the pool

 

catching some rays...and slippin' and slidin'

i've got to give it to this boy...most of the time he's pretty easy going!  although he can be high maintenance at times (runs in the family) he can also be easily entertained...with WATER!  

this "pool" has lasted us several years of FUN 

nothing like shriveled little fingers and toes to tell of a good summer day in the pool

and tan lines too! 

 

we're headed out to the back yard now...

happy thursday!

ears lowered

jackson has had every hair cut (except his very first one) by me!   i'm not sure how it all started, just easier, i guess?   but over the years it must have saved us a ton a money

but yesterday...that all changed

 

just look at that sweet little boy haircut and that grin...

he needed a good one, something much shorter than i can do and ms jennifer was just the person to do it!   she has worked her magic on me for several years now...actually gave jackson his 'first haircut' and i just love her! 

jackson does too

after we left, he told me that he wanted ms jennifer to come over to his house one day!

we'll see

happy friday!

slip n slide'n

 

 

one may consider this a stacation but we call it pure summertime backyard fun!

in bloom

at our house

 

gerber daisy

 

vinca...i think?

 

my gardenias that smell so good

 

and my most favorite hydrangeas

 

and my hostas...they follow the side of the house.  they are huge.  and we do nothing to them...which may explain the tall grass underneath 

i must check with jeff about that

happy tuesday!

2p's

for those of you that scrapbook and by the looks of things around here that's obviously not me...

two peas in a bucket  is hosting a FREE 4 week scrapbook class with Mini Albums!  and oh i LOVE me some mini albums

you know, if i scrapbooked...

atleast i'm keeping up and being informative

hello...anybody there?

sorry for the slight blog hiatus

plain and simple, i just haven't had the time!

BUT...here's a quick run down of last week including pictures (not even great ones) but consider yourself lucky

last week jackson and i took a walk to "town" which is not very far however he said "why did i agree to this?" with a grin on his face as we turned out of our subdivision

 

we made our way to all the little shops around the square, stopped and chevy's for icecream (for lunch), hit the new (to me) pharmacy...which is very nice and then headed home. 

unfortunately this was the only pic i took...and i have no idea why?

we'll do this again soon enough, it was fun!

thursday, jackson and i headed to north georgia with my parents to look at a house they are wanting to buy! 

here's a peak

 

maybe i should have said cabin!  it was awesome...the enormous amount of wood kinda scared me at first but then i began to really love it...it IS a CABIN and it just fits! 

my mom and i have already decorated most of the first floor in our heads!

here's a quick pic i took from the truck as we drove (with the reality guy) taking every curve on a dime

 

but there was lots of this...everywhere!  

it went up and up and up, the view from the top was amazing!

friday after a long day in the mountains, jackson headed back up with jeff's parents and his cousins to visit some family.  they made a day of it!  even stopped at an "asian market" on the way back and jackson said that "it really stunk"!  i would have loved to have been there, with my camera! 

saturday...we did nothing.  i laid on the couch all day and watched real housewives of new jersey...think i've gotten a cold, little bit of a fever and now a lovely cough.  did the same on sunday, although we did get out to Lowe's and the bookstore briefly...but i was ready to head home to lay down. 

i do feel some better today, kinda like i did yesterday...morning.

happy monday!