8 things about me

Awhile ago I was tagged by Kimberly at Niesz Vintage Home to list 7 weird things about myself. You may have saw this little meme going around the blogosphere. I could not think up 7 truly 'weird' things about me though. I step on cracks, don't put mayo on my peanut butter sandwiches or anything like that. Then last night I was reading at Sally's blog, A Gracious Home, and she listed 8 things about herself that her blog readers probably didn't know about her. I liked that idea so thought I would play along and perhaps when you read my list you'll wonder what I'm talking about because these things are definately weird! :)

1. I'm a list maker. I make lists because I love to cross things off of them. Sometimes I will even write something down on my list after I've done it just so that it can be crossed off.

2. I eat dessert almost everyday. It usually includes chocolate.

3. I rarely drink pop anymore. When I do though my favorite is a Dr. Pepper.

4. I got married when I was 19 years old. Almost a year and a half later Thomas was born. I love being married to my best friend and am so glad to be a young mom. I always get comments that I look too young to have a kid as old as Thomas. :)

5. I cannot read at night without falling asleep.

6. My toenails are always painted. Always.

7. I do not like dogs or cats. Especially not dogs.

8. I have never got a speeding ticket.

sleepy girl

This is how I found my little Elle Marie this afternoon - fast asleep on the couch with her Dick and Jane book at her feet.

the boating season has officially begun

We took the boat out as a family for the first time this afternoon. We got a nice rain this morning and then it warmed up to around 80 degrees this afternoon. It was breezy but nice out.

Thomas and Elle were crazy enough to go swimming. They didn't stay in for long but jumped in a few times and then walked up to the shore to find shells. They said it was freezing cold! I remember trying to go tubing last Memorial weekend and the water being so cold it took your breath away. I will not be getting in the water for awhile yet!

Ava is going to be a challenge on the boat this year! She loved it while we were moving...she even fell asleep while we were just driving around but woke up and was into everything when we stopped. She's not used to wearing a hat either and kept taking it off. A couple of her hats do not have a chin strap so I am going to have to sew some ribbon to them so we can tie them under her chin to keep them on her. She was a happy camper again when we were driving home!

Now Scott and I are sitting on the porch with our laptops, ribs are on the grill, Thomas and Elle are watching Leave it To Beaver and Ava's napping. Life is good!

berry cute dishes

I found these sweet strawberry dishes at Target. I just couldn't resist them. They are melamine - perfect for dinners on the porch, picnics at the park and snacks on the boat.

new rule in our house

Last week I bought 2 new boxes of bandaides. A box of princess bandaids for Elle and a box of Cars (the movie) bandaids for Thomas. This is very exciting you know. :) Elle came running in the house yesterday with the ittiest, bittiest cut that was barely bleeding and she was going to get a bandaid for it. I overheard Scott tell her 'If there is no dripping blood, no bandaid.' :)

a morning at the salon

Scott worked from home today so during Ava's nap this morning Elle and I went to get beautified at the salon. This was Elle's first time there and she was all smiles. Here she is getting her hair washed.

Then it was time to sit under the dryer while the malibou treatment went to work to strip the chlorine out of her hair from a year of swimming lessons.

We decided to go with a short bob style cut.

This was probably her favorite part - getting it blow dried and fixed. She was excited to get mousse in it! :)

And here is what we look like now. Elle's hair is so much blonder now...no more dingy looking hair! It's so soft too and easier to comb out. That treatment was definately worth it! Yep, I have short hair now. I needed a change. I had 8 inches cut off and was able to donate it to Locks of Love. It was a fun morning together!

a break from traveling

I get to unpack this suitcase, put it away and have my hubby home for the rest of this week and ALL of next week! Yay! :)

summer break

This week is our official start of summer break. Thomas finished up his last subject for school on Monday and we have been enjoying our break already! I was not on the ball with getting his testing ordered and now have to wait until it is available for his grade level in mid July. It will only take a few hours to get through though so not a big deal.

I don't have any big plans to continue schooling through the summer. I just want to keep Thomas's multiplication facts fresh in his mind so we will continue with Calculadder drills a few times a week. They take less than 5 minutes to complete. I also want to keep both kids reading. They are used to a reading time after lunch for an hour on most days so we will just continue with that. Thankfully they enjoy reading! Thomas still loves The Boxcar Children books and anything to do with hunting and outdoor adventures. He has two favorite Daniel Boone books that we've found at a local used book store and he has read each of them a few times. Elle is so happy she is reading the Biscuit 'I Can Read' books. She also reads out of a Dick and Jane treasury book that my mom gave us. She still does a lot of making up her own story by just looking at the pictures too. She says she has to read aloud because she doesn't know how to read in her head :), so I can go by the door to her room and hear her. That girl has quite the imagination!

I have many homeschool catalogs that I've received in the last month or so. I am looking forward to going through them and deciding what we are going to do next year. If you have a favorite cirriuculum leave me a comment and let me know about it! This was only my 2nd year to homeschool my kids and I love to talk with other moms about what their kids really enjoyed doing so that I can look into it. It can be a little overwhelming to open up a catalog and try to pick and choose. I haven't been able to attend a homeschool convention yet for a hands on look at things before ordering.

Well, my dryer buzzed to let me know that it's time to fold clothes. :)

works for me wednesday: tennis balls

This week I washed the down comforter on my bed and thought of my Works for Me Wednesday tip while doing it. I wash the comforter in my front load washing machine on the delicate setting in warm water. The trick comes when drying it though. Put 3 or 4 tennis balls in the dryer with it while it's drying (on a medium heat setting, not high) and they will keep beating at the feathers during the drying process so that they dry thoroughly and fluff up nice. I check on the comforter a few times throughout the drying cycle to be sure it isn't twisted and trap the tennis balls so that they can't do their job. Depending on the size of the comforter you may have to do more than one dry time setting on your machine. I would only recommend this tip if you have a large capacity washer and dryer though. It has worked well for me and saves the cost and hassle of taking it to the cleaners.

For more tips visit Rocks in My Dryer!

ava cuteness

Ava has just been doing some of the cutest things lately. I wanted to write them down to remember them.

- She's started putting her hands together when we pray at bedtime with the kids. Tonight as soon as I said 'ok, let's pray' she folded her chubby little hands together right away. It was so precious!

- She loves to give kisses. She opens her mouth wide and says aahhh and leans in to give you a slobbery kiss.

- Twice she has said 'Hi Mama' plain as day.

- She says Daddy more than Dada now.

- She knows how to shake her head for no and nod it for yes. This has been really funny. We'll ask her all kinds of questions like - 'Ava, do you know where your hair is?' or 'Do you know where your toes are?' and she always shakes her head no. This little joke can get carried away! :)

- When it's naptime or bedtime and she's getting sleepy I'll say to her, 'Ava, are you ready for night-night time?' and most of the time she puts her thumb in her mouth right away meaning 'Yes, mama.'

- I have put her down for a nap fully clothed and found her in just a diaper when she woke up, twice. The pants and shorts I can see her pulling off easy enough but can't figure out how she's managed to get the shirts off.

- She's really starting to have fun with Thomas and Elle. They can really get her belly laughing by being silly with her. They love that!

We love our little Ava Mae! :)

it's raining...(updated)

We are getting some much needed rain this afternoon. Even a little lightning and thunder! This is a good day for rainy weather. Elle hasn't been feeling well with a sick tummy and fever. I've had a mountain of laundry to do today so I've been plugging away at it. I still have a few loads to go. Elle gave me 3 extra loads to do this morning....bedding and blankets. Poor Girl!

Well, I think that I am going to go bake something. Rainy days always put me in the mood to bake. I found this recipe for scones a few months ago and have been wanting to make them but kept forgetting to pick up the few ingredients I didn't have on hand. I now have them in the pantry. Maybe it will be scones for dinner. After a bowl of cereal.....Scott's traveling this week.

Update: I made the scones and they were delicious! I followed the suggestions in one of the comments for the recipe and increased the butter to 1/3 cup, omitted the ginger and added lemon zest to the dough and was really happy with the results. Perfect with a cup of coffee or tea.

monster cookie recipe

We made these cookies for Thomas and Elle's lemonade/cookie stand at our garage sale a couple of weeks ago.

12 eggs
2 lbs. brown sugar
4 cups white sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 Tbsp white karo syrup
8 tsp baking soda
1 lb. butter
3 lbs. peanut butter
18 cups oatmeal
1 lb. chocolate chips (I do half a bag of chocolate chips and half a bag of butterscotch chips.)
1 lb. M&M candies

Mix in order given. Drop by icecream scoop on a greased cookie sheet and flatten a little, about 6 to a cookie sheet. Bake for 12 minutes at 350 degrees. (I made mine a little smaller and baked them for about 10 minutes or so.)

Have fun baking and baking and baking! :)

my little artist and writer

This is a photo of a story that Elle wrote called 'Shirley's Garage Sale' and a picture that she drew of her planting flowers with Grandma. Drawing and writing are some of her favorite things to do. I love her little stories. There are no spaces between the words, a few letters are written backwards and the words are written as she sounds them out in her mind. Upon is spelled Apon, with is wif, bikes is bics, lemon is lemin. Precious!

As a side note I want to mention that you can always click on the pictures if you want to see them larger. This picture is one that I thought Elle's Grandmas might want a closer look at and wanted to be sure you knew of that option. :)

another favorite dessert recipe

I harvested my first bunch of rhubarb tonight and thought that I would share one of my favorite recipes to make with it. It's such a simple recipe -

Rhubarb Custard Cake

1 yellow cake mix - mix as directed on the package and pour into a greased 9x13 pan.

Sprinkle 4 cups of chopped rhubarb on top of the cake batter. Then sprinkle 1 cup of white sugar on top of the rhubarb. Lastly, pour 1 pint of whipping cream over all.

Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes. Refrigerate after cooled down.

The rhubarb will sink to the bottom and the sugar and whipping cream will form a custard underneath the cake. So good with a scoop of vanilla icecream!

oreos & fudge ice cream cake

This is my new favorite quick fix dessert! I found it in the latest issue of Kraft Food & Family magazine. I made it last week for a friend's birthday and it was yummy. I forgot the oreos when I made it because I was chatting too much while I was making it but we didn't miss them. Thomas said that he is going to choose this cake for his birthday cake in August.

1/2 cup fudge ice cream topping
1 tub (8 oz.) whipped topping, thawed, divided
1 pkg. (4-serving size) Chocolate Instant Pudding
8 Oreo cookies, chopped (about 1 cup)
12 vanilla ice cream sandwiches, unwrapped

Pour fudge topping into medium bowl. Add 1 cup of the whipped topping; stir with wire whisk until well blended. Add dry pudding mix; stir 2 min. or until well blended. Gently stir in chopped cookies; set aside.

Arrange 4 of the ice cream sandwiches, side-by-side, on 24-inch-long piece of foil; top with half of the whipped topping mixture. Repeat layers. Top with remaining 4 ice cream sandwiches. Frost top and sides of dessert with remaining whipped topping. Bring up foil sides. Double fold top and ends to loosely seal packet.

Freeze at least 4 hours before serving. Store leftover dessert in freezer.

my little fisherman

Well, he learned to take the fish off the hook by himself! I think this is how he's going to spend a lot of his afternoons this summer. :) The trick was to use a wet cloth to hold the fish while pulling the hook out. Yesterday he caught 20 fish and 3 this afternoon.....majority of them are sunfish.

colors around the yard

These sweet little petunias are what I chose for my hanging baskets this year. There are 5 purple baskets hanging from the porch posts and the pink one is on a shepherd's hook by Elle's playhouse.

This is the shrub that I planted by the steps to the front door last year. It looks so pretty right now with pink blossoms all over it.

This morning I bought my herbs for my herb garden. I'm going to be planting sweet basil, cilantro, Italian parsley, thyme and mint. I loved being able to walk to the garden to cut off the herbs I wanted to use in that nights dinner last summer!

fishing opener weekend

This is what my fridge will look like for the rest of the summer....a (tightly sealed!) container of worms side by side with the milk. The nearly empty gallon of milk is very appropriate for this picture as well.

Scott is fishing with the kids on the dock right now. Thomas is hoping to be able to learn to take a fish off the hook today. He wants to be able to fish during the day when Scott is at work since his mama doesn't touch fish! :)

Update - It was a successful fishing opener for Thomas and Elle. Thomas caught 9 fish this morning. Elle caught 12. Pretty exciting!

summer laundry

Summer laundry season is in full swing! Look at the stains on those shorts! And that is just one of many articles of clothing that look like this. I think I'm going to be going through a lot of pre-spot treater! Rocks (the most beautiful ones), sling shot marbles (he's still trying to get a squirrel so that he can get a pellet gun), crayons, acorns, and always a hotel key (treasures from Daddy's business trips) are what I've been finding in the pockets.

works for me wednesday - grocery shopping prep

Here are a few ideas for making grocery shopping a little easier and a little more pleasant....

- Be prepared with a organized list. I read about this idea in one of my cookbooks and love it - when you make your grocery list take a piece of paper and make headings on the page such as - Dairy, Meat, Produce, Freezer, Shelf Goods, Miscellaneous. Then as you are going through the weekly ads and your recipes you can put each item under the correct heading along with how much of the item you want/need to buy. This will keep you from running back and forth through the store and also from forgetting things. I shop 2 different grocery stores most weeks so I also mark which store to buy the item at with the initial of the store in a circle after the item.

- Don't forget your list at home! :) Put it in your purse along with any coupons you will be using right after you get done writing it out. Also, make sure you have a pen in your purse so that you can cross the items off your list as you put them in your cart.

- Keep your fabric grocery totes and a collapsible cooler in your vehicle at all times. Then you will always have them with you when you need them. My mom gave me a collapsible cooler a couple of years ago and I love using it when I have a few more quick errands to run in town after I stop at the grocery store.

I'd love to hear any other tips from you about what makes grocery shopping easier for you. Especially about shopping with children! :)

For more tips to make life a little easier check out all of the Works For Me Wednesday tips at Rocks in My Dryer!

ava mae

one day

Randi, at I have to say..., hosts 'Let's Get Real Monday'. This week's theme is called 'One Day'. We were to pick a day and show in pictures and/or tell in words what one of our days looks like. I read about it on Friday night so I had to choose between Saturday and Sunday. I chose Sunday.

I don't have any pictures of the first part of our morning. Church starts at 9:00 so we left the house at 8:40. By the time everyone showered, got dressed and ate a quick breakfast it was time to go. After church we made a stop at the grocery store and I ran in and picked up milk and the sale items I wanted from that store for the week.

Most Sundays we do brunch at our house. Scott requested pancakes yesterday. Here are a couple pictures of the kids helping me prepare them. Elle's whipping the egg whites and they both sliced the strawberries after I washed them.

Here is Thomas helping me by drying the dishes. Thomas and Elle both help me with this job and I love it!

These were the pancakes and they were yummy! Especially with that cup of coffee with a little Blueberry Cobbler coffee creamer in it!

After brunch I finished tidying up the kitchen, spent some time online reading blogs and then when Ava laid down for her nap so did I. After an hour and a half we woke up and she had her bottle and a snack.

I really slacked off exercising last week so I told Scott I was going to get back on track this week. So I went outside and jumped rope for awhile and then ran 4.5 miles on the eliptical runner.

After exercising I showered and decided to give my feet a little pedicure since it is sandal season now. I painted my toenails red, like I pretty much always do, and also decided to put a creamy pink color on my fingernails all while watching America's Funniest Home Videos. The kids and I get a kick out of that show!

This is dinner! Scott grilled BBQ chicken and we boiled some corn on the cob. It was delicious!

After dinner and the kids were in bed, Scott and I watched 2 episodes of 24 that we hadn't had time to in the past couple weeks. I knitted some more on the girl's dresses while watching. I haven't worked on them for awhile. My goal is to have them done by the end of this month...so they can actually wear them this summer!

Well, that is my Sunday. Sometime I will post a week day and show you my mountain of laundry and my floors in need of sweeping and mopping. :) Life here isn't always like this Sunday but it sure is nice to have relaxing, easy-going days like this now and then!

sewing while it rains

Today has been dreary and raining off and on....a perfect day to sew. This bag was my project for the afternoon and I'm so happy with how it turned out! This is the third one I've made trying to get it just right and I finally did today! This fabric is definately one my favorites that I have found this spring.

one subject done...five more to go!

It's an exciting week here! Both Thomas and Elle completed their math workbooks! We will be finishing up the other subjects within the next couple of weeks. We are all looking forward to summer break!

tulip troubles

This is the only tulip that is blooming in my garden right now. There are a couple others that are going to bloom but for the most part my tulips aren't doing so great this year. It snowed after they had started to come up so that could have something to do with it or I think the mulch may have got piled too thick over them last summer so that they are buried too deep now. I want to dig them up and move them to a different location for next year. Does anyone have any pointers for me on how to do this? When do I dig them up? Right after they are done blooming or do I wait till the end of summer?

It is so nice to see the grass greening up and leaves starting to come out on the trees. Last week I raked the yard and cleaned out the flower beds. Scott built the railing and a door for the playhouse. I got it all stained before he assembled and installed it. (Wish I would've done that when we did the railings on the house....so much easier!) Elle just loves her little house. I will post a picture of it when I get the porch floor and steps stained.

Last weekend we also put the boat in the water. It's fun to see it waiting on the lift knowing all the fun times we will have this summer! It's good motivation to get all of the work done now so that we can play when it's finally warm enough! :)

back to bottles

My baby doesn't think sippy cups are fun anymore. I'm a big softie so I keep warming up bottles for her. :) Look at that face though! How could I not want to hold her and look at that sweet face while she drinks her bottle?