Beach Time

It was really hot this weekend! I mean, really hot...
We had to escape.
We went to the beach....it was 75....and not windy....and perfect!

Thank goodness for the beach!

I got Cannon to smile through his tears. He is terrified of the ground under the ocean. (I think it stems to having some seaweed wrap around his foot the last time that we were at the beach...sad huh.) He freaked out when Rich dragged him into the water and then spent the next 20 minutes sobbing about it on the beach. What fun!

My water baby! She got knocked over by a wave, and I held my breath and waited for the tears....they never came. She loved it. Do I see some water activity in her future???

She loved the water as well. Both of my girls were drenched by the end of the day, and Cannon was, well, absolutely dry....hmmm.

After I took this pic, I realized that I am in desperate need of a pedi.... Maybe for my birthday???

The cure for the tears of a tired toddler?

A few tosses in the air!!


This was the redeeming factor for Cannon's beach day. He is pretty much obsessed with all things that look like a surfboard/skateboard deck. (No one had the heart to tell him that this skim boards' home was in the dreaded water...)

No...Not us...

Unlike my hubby's brother and wife (who are amazing, by the way), I will NOT be keeping this critter that I found on my screen door in my house and feeding it live crickets every other day....I will buy another dog or cat before I keep one of these scary looking beasties as a pet. I am waaaaayyy to scared of it to even look at it for a long amount of time...
No thanks! I prefer furry, four footed friends to these guys....


*shiver*


Side note: We did return it to the hay fields near our house after dinner. I think it was happy to be somewhere other than the Glad ware container that I put it in (and then promptly threw away when we got home...)
Yeah, those are my kids...

This picture was taken about 4 seconds before he threw that stick up in the air and it came crashing down on my head.

And then we went home...

I Did It!

Yep! I baked 200 cupcakes!
They turned out pretty too!

*sigh*

Now THAT's a pancake!

Here is yet another one of Rich's famous breakfasts....


Can you tell who is really happy about eating it all? (And yes, he did eat every last bite...)

Wanna Cupcake???

Oh goodie! Then come to the Fall Festival at our church and bring money!

I am baking, baking, baking and more baking today! Preparing for the fall festival at church. Its the brain child of my friend Tanya to raise money for the Children's Ministry at church. It should be full of lots of family filled fun. Toddler town, baked goods, yummy bbq, game booths, dunk tanks, sumo wrestling, grape stomp, and an amazing silent auction!

If you want more info you can check it out here!


I wish my cupcakes would look as pretty as these ones, but in all reality, I stink with frosting, so they will probably look much more like this.....

Don't you worry though, they will taste delicious, and really, that is all that matters right? Right!

Baby Shower Fun

My friend Marie is expecting her second little one, and its a girl. The baby shower for her was full of all things girly.
There was an amazing spread of finger foods and appetizers. (I ate them for days afterwards.)
We crafted hair bows for ourselves, or the baby - guests' choice. I saw these on one of my favorite crafty websites, and had to give them a try.

We ate Princess Cake (sooooo yummy) and then when people left, they got a sparkler to take home.

It was a mellow evening and I hope that she enjoyed herself!

Kinder Fun

Brynn's teacher is very creative. This is how they came home last Friday. The Friday before that was in Clifford the Big Red Dog ears, but I didn't manage to get a picture before they were destroyed by a certain little boy who does not go to kindergarten...

Bountiful Harvest

Once upon a time there was a girl who lived on a farm. She loved the summer time, because she could walk outside her door and eat lots of fruit. Apples with dust still on them, peaches that were warm from the sun, sweet pears dripping with juice, sticky grapes picked right off the vine... She was very lucky.
Then she moved to the city. In the city she missed all the fruit, but she did love a lot of other things. Not having to burn her garbage in the burn barrel, dirt-clods on her clean floor, getting stranded when it rained hard and the roads flooded, dealing with leech lines and septic systems...ew.
So, when the girl gets sad in the summer about not have fresh veggies and fruit right at her fingertips, she gets in her car, drives to her parents house, and spends all day rummaging around outside finding lots of goodies to eat. The she packs all her harvest, and her 3 happy, dirty, dusty kids into the car, and drives back to her nice little house in the suburbs. And once again, she is happy.
The End.

This is why..

We take baths AFTER dinner!

Getting a Good Picture

is impossible!

Maeve....
now Brynn....
And when the rest look good, there goes Cannon!

Another Comparison

Here is a 16 month comparison, just for kicks...

I love this one. Look at that bowl hair cut. What was I trying to accomplish there???

One word...CLASSIC! Barely covered, and holding a balloon. Things haven't changed much!

I don't know which hair do is worse? My attempt to grow out the layers on Brynn, or my refusal to cut the layers on Maeve....

Oh, Kids.....

Story #1
We were standing in the street talking to our neighbor Mrs. Gwen. She just had her 76th birthday, and is a fiery old lady who is always having one mishap or another. She mentioned to Cannon and I that it was her birthday, and I wished her a happy birthday, and then continued on the conversation. As we were turning to leave, Cannon walks right up to her and asks, "Why are you starting to die?".
What the heck do you say to that one? I just kinda laughed with embarrassment, and she did the same. I quickly apologized, grabbed him, hauled him into the house and told him that certain questions are not to be asked....for example:
Why are you fat?
How come you are missing (whatever) body part?
What is that huge bump on your back?
How come you are black?
and
Why are you starting to die?
If he wants to know something like that, he needs to talk to mommy and daddy first!


Story #2
Every day at 1:25 the kids and I go to pick up Brynn from kindergarten. Usually there is a crowd of moms and dads waiting to pick up the kids. My sister in law and I get to have a couple minutes of chatting too, while we let the kids run around and pick leaves off the bushes. Yesterday, the kids get out, and we were standing talking about something. I wasn't paying total attention to the situation, but this is the general picture of what happened.
Peyton spotted a beetle and was kneeling down to get a better look at it. He called out to Brynn and Cannon to come and look at it. Peyton (my sweet, bug-loving nephew) was about to say "Don't squish the beetle", when Cannon (my think-before-acting son) stomped as hard as he could down on that beetle and killed him. There was a moment of silence before Peyton started wailing about the dead beetle, and Elissa and I were both a little speechless. We walked away from the rest of the parents (because remember, we are not the only ones there waiting...) and Peyton turns around and yells something to the effect of "Don't ever squish a beetle" to Cannon. Elissa looked at me, and questioned..."Doesn't it feel like we need to explain to the people here that these kids know each other?"
Needless to say, I tried to get Cannon to apologize, but that stubborn streak in him wouldn't allow it. He ended up crying too and it was all just one big tear-fest. Yeah!

Oh those kids.....

Baby Mama!

Seriously the funniest movie that I have seen in a long time.

The kind of movie where you laugh out loud, and then laugh later when you again think of what they said/did.

Besides the fact that Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are two of my favs from SNL and now have their own shows, the movie is downright hilarious!!!!

I know its been out forever, but we finally got it through Netflix.

Better late than never.

I am not ashamed to say that I plan to watch this one again....today.

Remote Control Madness

Cannon bought a remote control car at a garage sale last weekend. I was thinking it might be a waste of his money, since the one that he already has just sits in the garage....

This one has a re-chargeable battery, which is nice, and it proved to be a fun activity in our street.

He is getting the hang of forward and reverse, and his favorite thing to do is try to run it straight into whoever is standing out with him in the street. He also loves to crash it into the curb, and any cars that is unfortunately parked in the area....(don't park near our house....)

Maybe this is the start of a new hobby for our family!

I Give UP!

I am now resigned to the fact that I will never have a clean garage again.
I fought this, and I fought this, but in the end, Rich and the kids won.

I grew up in the country, so my excitement of having a garage to park my car in was pretty high. I always wanted a clean, organized garage that had the laundry stuff, some storage, and a place to park the car. My husband grew up using his garage as an extra playroom. When he suggested that we do the same, I dug in my heels (something that I don't often do) and said "no".

Well, 1 year later, you can see how won that battle...

Our garage now houses an old rug, a bunch of kids toys, the art easel, AND all of our other stuff. I did get to set up a table to sew on out there, so that is a perk for me!

Its a room that I don't clean. Its fully covered in toys, and the kids have the responsibility to tidy it up. (It never gets done...)

Oh, and my new car? Its parked in the driveway....just like when I was growing up!

Once a Month Cooking Update

So, remember that I did that Cooking for a Month Deal? We finished all our our meals about a month ago, so I guess that it really was more like cooking for 3 months...
My"professional" opinion (because I am a professional mom, right?)
OAMC (as it is referred to by those who do it often) isn't that fun...
It would be great for a working mom, who comes home at 5 and wants to have dinners put together quickly for her family.
It isn't great for me.
I gave up about two days of my life to prep all these meals. I spent a lot of money on the meals. I then spent about two months trying to play catch-up with our budget. The huge initial cost only covered the frozen meals, and then I ran out of money for our fresh produce and side dishes.
It didn't eliminate all my cooking, I still had to spend some time each night to make our salads, and whatever else we would be eating with the main dish. (If I remembered to pull out the frozen meal earlier that morning...)
Since we did a good amount of camping this summer, the meals weren't conducive to that. I did have the foresight to marinade and refreeze a bunch of meat, so we ended up taking that along with us when we were traveling.
I love the idea of OAMC...but that is about it. I haven't given up yet though. I really do think that for me, I will do something similar, but on a smaller scale. I will try to make a double batch of certain dinners to freeze. Cook one, save one. I can handle that!

Brynn's First Ballet "Recital"

Brynn had the opportunity to take ballet at our neighbors house with their two older girls as teachers. The taught the girls a routine, and then at the end of the summer had a little dance recital to show all their hard work. The girls did great. It was very low-key, and Brynn had a great time.


She had a ton of supportive audience....



Doing one of the dances.

So, after the show, Brynn got this little plaque from the girls. It said (past tense, as you can see) "1st Dancer, Brynn". Being the great mom that I am, I was warning Brynn to be very careful and not drop it because it would break. As I attempted to hand it to her, it slipped from MY fingers, hit the ground and shattered. Yeah, I am a horrible mom. Elissa gasped, I just stood there with my mouth open, and Brynn burst into tears. I can't believe that I did that.
I will attempt to glue it, but I probably will never live that one down!

My To-Do List

Busy does not describe what I am right now.
Overwhelmed does.
Here is my list:

Finish 3 baby blankets/gift packs.
Finish my mom's surprise birthday gift. (Good thing she doesn't read my blog huh!)
Finish reading all my info for the new church ministry that I am working on.
Start making Christmas gifts....I have sooooo many ideas!
Bake all the baked goods for our booth at the fall festival.
Play with the idea of selling stuff on etsy.

Uhm, this is just for this next week.....
Can I get any volunteers to come and clean, vacuum, clean my shower, do the laundry, and dishes for me so that I can actually devote some time to all this stuff?????
Any takers???

A Few Favs

My sis in law and I were talking the other day, and it reminded me of a few of my favorite things that I have found for our home and the kids. I am not a scrapbook-er. I cannot think of anything more that I would rather not do than scrap booking. I tried it once, got frustrated, slapped a few pics and some stickers in a book, and then threw the album away. Not fun for me at all.
So, these are the solution for me to keeping pictures and memories stored in a cute way.

I saw this at Pottery Barn one year, and immediately loved it. I bought one for Brynn on line, and have since then bought one for each child. I love it. My favorite part of the book is the birthday interview. The questions are perfect, and I think that each of my kids will love to look back and see what their answers are....
Your Birthday Book: A Keepsake Journal

I bought my first school journal this year for Brynn as she started Kindergarten too. I love the vintage look of this book, and the drawings on the cover make me smile each time I see it. (I am such a product of the 70's...)
School Years: A Family Keepsake of School Memories


This book is great too, but really expensive. I borrowed a copy from a friend and used some of the ideas for my own version. I also looked online for suggestions of what to put in a binder like this. It takes a ton of time to do, but I am sure that (when I am finally done getting it all together) I will have a sense of accomplishment like none-other!
Life.doc: Your Life Buttoned Up

They also sell this, and a bunch more from this series line at Office Max.
I am such a sucker for organizational things....its one of the only reasons that I wish I had a desk job....
It only cost about $6 to put my own version together. I bought a large binder, some dividers, folders and sheet protectors and ta-da....done.


Side note:
I just found an entire blog entry devoted to this book that I bought at a garage sale a few months ago. I am always drawn to the old books, and love the simplicity of them. The pictures, the colors, and the story lines are sweet, simple and pure, and I love that! This is Cannon's favorite book, and I do really love reading it to him. I only knew of this one, but apparently there are a bunch in the "Cowboy Sam" series. I will definitely be on the look out for them...