Sunflower Pictures

In the middle of July, I signed our family up for a mini photoshoot in a sunflower field.  And, bonus, the big kids were able to join us for it!  I'll leave it to you to guess from the pictures whether it was hot outside or not...

Thomas was the main grumpster during the shoot.  Usually Katie Wynn is too but we were able to get her to smile a little bit.  Him?  Not so much.  

Kristen Catt was our photographer and she did a good job of being patient with the little kids.  And I love that she took an individual picture of each one of them!  It's going to be hard deciding which ones to frame.

Our pretty girls...

And our handsome boys!

And then there's us...Mom and Dad.

I love doing these mini photoshoots throughout the year!  But, if we don't manage to squeeze in another one before December, act surprised when you see one of these on our Christmas card, ok?  :)

July Phone Pics

July phone pics on the first day of August?  I'm on fire!!

Don't worry, I've got a couple posts lined up that are over a year late, so that should offset how current this post is.  

The first week of July was Patriotic thanks to the Fourth of July holiday!  We started the weekend by watching cartoons from Thomas's new teepee, complete with red and blue lights strung inside it (not pictured).  

We spent Saturday over at my brother's house swimming, playing, and cooking out and somehow my camera didn't make it out to take a single picture!  Probably because I was in the pool catching my little girl who just wants to jump in over and over and over.  And over.

Thomas was Patriotic for church on Sunday in his red and blue plaid jonjon.  

Then he helped his Daddy and Poppy install a new garage door opener.  His job, I think, was holding the ladder, maybe?

Nothing says 'merica like two kids in the back of a red pickup truck.

We shot our fireworks on the 3rd of July over at my oldest brother's house.  Thomas was not a fan of the loud noises.  He felt much safer behind the safety of his hands.

But Mimi convinced him to be brave and hold a sparkler with her.

He enjoyed doing that until it got boring...  (Or maybe he was just getting sleepy.)

Katie Wynn was really brave and did lots of sparklers all by herself!

She also convinced her older cousin, Bren, to let her drive her car and I think it might've been the highlight of her month.  

I didn't get worried until I looked over and saw that Bren had hopped out and left Katie Wynn and Thomas on their own.  I think they used my brother's fence as a brake.

The actual fourth of July had rain in the forecast, but this guy was ready for it.  Dirt covered face and all.

When it was time to get dressed later that day, I walked in on him wearing his Daddy's boots.  As soon as he saw me he said, "Take my picture, Mama?"  He's learning.  :)

I lost count of how many popsicles Katie Wynn ate during the month of July.  It was hot and popsicles were necessary!

Selfies.

For some reason, Matt got out the trumpet he played in the high school band and did some practicing.  I guess because we need more noise in the house?  Thomas discovered the trumpet the next morning.  Thank goodness I found him before he rubbed the tub of salve everywhere.

The kids also found their winter accessories.  Just looking at these pictures makes me sweat.

Speaking of sweating, we went to the zoo one Saturday morning.  Good grief it was hot there!

I paid for the kids to feed the giraffes and naturally, they were too terrified to do it.  So I went up to feed the giraffes and holy cow, I was not prepared for that long black tongue to come out that far!!  Maybe the kids were right to be terrified.

Since we got so hot at the zoo, we got out last year's car wash when we got home so the kids could play in the water. 

Matt also gave each of the kids their first golf lesson.  I'm sure he wouldn't be sad if they took an interest in the game.

Our niece, Bren, had a surprise party at a swimming pool and we were glad to help her celebrate.

I took the kids for donuts one morning and, after taking their pictures, I'm wondering - is this the face I make when biting into a sprinkle donut??

They got to lick the beaters one day and Thomas was so proud of himself for "not getting dirty."  

I have so many random pictures from this month!  Here are me and Katie Wynn having lunch at McDonald's.  She had asked me if one day I would pick her up from school for lunch and then take her back, so one day I did!

Thomas - first with socks as mittens and then post-bath with slicked back hair.  I tried to get him to put his hands on his face and scream a la Macauley Caulkin in Home Alone, but he wouldn't do it.  

More Thomas - showing off his deep love for bandaids and - probably the sweetest picture of the month - singing the blessing before dinner.

Katie Wynn still naps on her trundle on the weekends.  Whatever it takes.

We think she may be a future hurdler, based on the way she plays in the sprinklers.

The book of the month has been this one of Thomas's that is all about trucks.  We are all learning so much!

This past weekend we had dinner with some of our good friends.  It's a good thing all of our kids go to school together since they all had their faces painted!  Might've been weird if it had only been one of them.  :)

The best thing for the kids about having dinner at friends' houses is all the cool new toys.  The best part for me is that I make mental notes to tell Santa Claus.  How cool is this ride-on horse?  When the kids go up and down like it's galloping, it actually goes!  It can be steered with the handles. And, rumor has it, they make a unicorn version of it...

We had a short visit to the Children's Museum Saturday morning.  

Why was it a short visit?  Because shortly after ringing up his groceries, Thomas had a major meltdown and we had to get. out. of. there.  You better believe I was sweating by the time we made it to the car with him screaming.  

The last picture I took in July was this one of my boys.  If you get Thomas from his crib after his nap, you better get your arms ready to pick up a lot of extras.  You'll need to get Thomas, two pacis, three bunny rabbits, one elmo, and one blanket.  A boy's gotta have his stuff, ya know? 

I'll leave you with this picture - a teaser of an exciting post that is to come.  Ideally sooner rather than later.  This is the kids glued to watching some painters work outside at our house.  What are they painting?  The framing of our new screened-in porch!  That's exciting, right?  Sadly, half of that framing has been pulled off and is in a big pile as I type this.  We've had a lot of steps backwards in this project, but hopefully it'll be worth the wait when it's finally complete.  More to come.

Books to Read

This blog post comes with one rule: If you read it, you absolutely MUST leave a comment with a book recommendation for me.  Got it?  I'm gonna give you some suggestions so it's only fair that you do the same.

Do you write down the books you read?  Or keep a list of ones you want to read?  I keep one in the notes app on my phone and anytime someone mentions a good book they've read, I add it to the list.  I also skim those articles on Pinterest that are like "If you enjoyed reading ______, then you'll love ______" and I add a book or two from those.  Sometimes I pull titles from "Must Read Books of 2016" lists and "Top 10 Books to Read this Summer Before the Movie Comes Out" or whatever the catch line may be.  If I see that someone on Facebook or Instagram has asked for book suggestions, I always skim the comments.  If a title is listed repeatedly then I'll add it to my list too.  

The problem with doing my list this way, though, is that I never remember why I added a particular book to my list - who or where did I get the recommendation from?  And then when I finish one that I don't think was any good (like I just did), I think "Why in the world did I read that awful book?!"  On the flip side, if I really enjoyed a book I might recommend it to a friend only to be reminded that they're the one that suggested it to me!  It's not a perfect system, is what I'm saying.

As you can see from my list above, I add a check mark when I've read a book.  Why don't I just delete them?  Because I read on my kindle and cannot ever remember the names of books that I've read - often times I don't even know the name of the book I'm currently reading!  And don't bother asking me about the author - I can promise you I won't know that either. 

Ok, who needs a book to read?  If you haven't read it already, you absolutely must start with Hope Heals by Jay and Katherine Wolf.  

I knew about Katherine and Jay before their book came out and had even watched their video and read some of their blog posts.  So I was familiar with the story line.  Maybe that's why I tried hard to ignore it even though the book kept popping up in my social media feeds and on blogs that I read.  I think I was scared of it, maybe?  But oh my goodness, what a great story of survival and hope and faith!  And it's written in such an easy way to read.  I devoured the book in less than a week, which is fast for this slow reader!  My descriptions will never do it justice - just read this one, ok?

In keeping with the "true stories," Fearless by Eric Blehm is another good one.  This probably isn't a book I would have picked on my own but Matt read it first and thought I'd enjoy it.  The book is about the life of Adam Brown, a US Navy SEAL that was part of Team SIX - the group responsible for killing Osama bin Laden.  I'm really not good at writing book reviews but this book really showed the "real person" side of this Navy SEAL and all that he overcame to get into the navy and then to become a SEAL.  Like the title suggests, Adam was fearless and it made him a great hero for our country.  This book was one I couldn't put down.  

In the category of Historical Fiction, you must read The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Burrows.  The Nightingale is a story of two sisters and the different paths they take during World War II.  Set in France, each sister fights against the Nazis in their own secretive way - each very different from the other.  If I remember correctly, it took me a few chapters to really get into the book, but once I did I was hooked.  

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (longest title ever!) is about the community on Guernsey Island (near London) also during World War II.  It is less about the actual war and more about the people living on the island, but you can't tell their stories without seeing how the war effected their lives - with curfews, food rations, soldiers in town, etc.  The book is written in letter format which makes it an interesting read - you get to hear the voice of many different characters.

I think I may learn more from these types of books then I did from any of my history classes.  

Oh, Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline is a good one for this category too!  I read it so long ago that I can't remember many of the details, but I know it tells the stories of two different girls with similar backgrounds and was an interesting read.  

Do you like "whodunnit" type of books?  If so, try The Short Drop by Matthew FitzSimmons.  This is another one that Matt read first so I gave it a try on his recommendation.  Man, I stayed up way too late every night when reading this one!  I just had to know what happened next.  I did not have the mystery figured out early at all.  Now I'm realizing this is part of a series so I may need to read another one!

Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult is not necessarily a "whodunnit" book but it had a twist I didn't see coming.  It still does try to figure out what happened to a missing person and while going through that investigation, you also learn so much about...elephants.  One of the main characters lives and works at an elephant sanctuary so there is so much elephant information added in.  It was quite educational!  The voice of each chapter rotates between the characters so if you don't like books that do that, then skip this one. 

How do you feel about books where the main characters are in high school?  (Does that make them Young Adult??) Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys was good.  We got it for Anna for Christmas and since the back cover mentioned prostitution and brothels, I gave it a quick read before giving it to her.  I really enjoyed it!  It's well-written and is actually historical about how brothels were run back in the day.  (And no, the main character is not a prostitute, but she was raised by one.)  I kinda want to try another of Ruta's books...

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell is about two high schoolers and first loves.  I enjoyed reading it.  Matt read it after I did and probably rolled his eyes a hundred times but he did finish it.  We both agree that Park's family reminds us of one we know, so that made it even more entertaining.  This would be a good beach read!

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith is another good vacation book.  In fact, I think I read it while we were at the beach.  It's another story of two young adults but the interesting thing about this one, if I remember correctly, is that the whole book is only 24 hours of their lives.  It's a quick, easy read and will leave you wondering - is love at first sight really possible?

And now, going off the top of my head, here are some of my all time favorites that I like to recommend to someone looking for a good read:

And my mind just went totally blank!  Those three are all some of my favorites so check them out if you haven't read them already.  Right now I am reading A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman and I can already tell it will be on my favorites list too.  It's about an ornery old man that stays cranky and mad at his neighbors, and I kind of love him.  Actually, I wish he was my neighbor!  I have already downloaded These Is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901 by Nancy Turner so I guess it's next on my list.  Of course, I have no idea who suggested it or why I chose it, so I hope it's good! 

I feel like I should give you some warning about a few that I didn't like too, since you can see them checked off on my list above.  I'm not even going to bother linking to them!

  • Tigers in Red Weather was weird and to me, had no point.  It also had a creepy character that, well, creeped me out.
  • King of Heists is more documentary-ish so it took me forever to read (it's based on facts).  I chose it because I saw that it was about bank heists and I thought that'd be interesting and it was, to an extent, but it just didn't suck me in.   
  • Just Another Number is the book I just finished and, call me a prude, but the language was just a tad too raunchy for me.  Also, the author and I don't necessarily make any of the same lifestyle choices.

Now, if you've made it this far, do you remember the one rule from the beginning of this post?  You are required to leave a comment with a book suggestion for me (and all the other commenters!).  I wanna know - what's your favorite book recommendation?  Can't wait to read what all you suggest!

A Cake to Make

I have a yummy delicious cake to share with you - one that you absolutely should make because it is so delicious!  The idea of it is really simple: buy these two items....  

...mix the cake just like the box says, then stir in the can of frosting, bake and....voila!  A yummy cake!

Or, in the case of my first two attempts, a colossal fail.  But man, did I want to figure it out!  Cause that cake up there?  It might look atrocious, but it tastes soooo good!  Like, so good that I ate about a third of that one out of the pan while making the next one.  And then kinda felt like I was going to be sick from eating so much of it but it was so worth it.

Determined to make the delicious cake AND have it look decent, I did some googling to figure out my mistakes.  Here's what I learned so that you can make a perfect one on the first try (and you really want to make this cake).  

  • Duncan Hines calls this an Icing-in-the-Cake Cake for obvious reasons.  Other sites, though, call it a  Crawling Cake because, if not done properly, it will quite literally, crawl right out of your bundt pan and splatter all over your oven.  (Ask me how I know...)  (See photo above.)
  • Do NOT use a mixer for the cake mix.  Apparently, this adds air to the batter and you don't want that.
  • Do NOT use the whole can of icing.  Two-thirds of the can are all you really need, and the rest of the can is perfect to drizzle over the top at the end.
  • Do NOT open the oven while it's baking.  You've never seen a cake deflate quite like this one can if you open the door!  Just be patient and wait for the timer to go off.

So let me tell you about my successful cake, cause it was a hit.  I used a Duncan Hines Butter Cake the first time (really the second time, but my real first time was a month or so earlier).  When that flopped, I was nervous the butter had something to do with it (was it not room temperature enough?) so I went with just a yellow cake the next time.  This worked well, but I do think the Butter Cake one tasted better so I might go back to it when I do it again.  You choose for yourself.  

Aside from the box of cake mix and can of icing, you also need 4 eggs, 1 cup of milk, and 3/4 cup of oil.  

Since you aren't using a mixer, add the eggs to your bowl first and beat them by hand.  Then add everything else except for the icing.  Mix it by hand as well as you can.  This won't be the prettiest cake mix ever.  After mixing well, fold in the 2/3 of the can of icing.  For comparison, below on the left is my first batter that I used my mixer on, and the other is the one I mixed by hand.  The first one looks much fluffier and smoother and prettier, but don't be fooled - the flatter batter is better. 

Before pouring it into your bundt pan, make sure you spray that bad boy down with so much Pam it's pooling up at the bottom.  And then sprinkle on some flour.  You don't want this deliciousness to stick to the pan.

Now, here is another important part: ignore the baking instructions on the box!  Cook it at 350* for a minimum of ONE HOUR.  I know the box says 35-40 minutes, but we don't care.  The icing being added in means it needs to cook much longer.  An hour will probably get it cooked but you may need to an a few extra minutes.  Just remember the less you have to open that oven door, the better.  Open it, stick in that toothpick, and close it back quickly!  :)

If you need to hold your breath and say a little prayer before dumping it over, I understand.  Let it cool in the pan for about ten minutes before attempting it, but if you greased and floured enough, it should come right out.  

Now, you could stop there and it would be just fine, but why not take it up a notch?  Take that third of a can of icing that you have left over, add just a little bit of milk to the can, and microwave it for a few seconds.  Once you've got it thin enough, drizzle that yumminess over the top of your cake.

Fantastic! Now, once again, you could stop here and the friends you're sharing your cake with would be just fine.  BUT, slicing that pretty cake and adding a scoop of vanilla ice cream and then drizzling it even more with caramel (oh my gah!) would have them singing your praises for days.  Warning: you will become the official Birthday Cake Maker.

I made my caramel cake for one of my very favorite people in the whole world - my Mama - for her 65th birthday.  My niece made sure she was properly accessorized with a crown and wand before she could blow out candles.  

The super fun thing about this cake is that the flavor combinations are endless!  I did yellow cake with caramel icing, but you could do lemon cake with lemon icing.  Or spice cake with cream cheese icing, butter pecan with coconut, strawberry with strawberry.  Oh, the possibilities!  Let me know what combo you try! :)

And now, the super fun thing about this post is that I have a bonus recipe for you!  This is so easy it can hardly be called a recipe, but it's so tasty and is another crowd-pleaser.

You need five things: apples (I used 3 or 4), snickers, cool whip, vanilla instant pudding, caramel sauce.  I made a small batch so I only needed a small tub of cool whip and half-ish of the instant pudding package.

First, chop up your apples and snickers candy.  Try not to eat too many.

Fold the dry vanilla pudding into your cool whip.  I just did it to taste - add as little or as much as you like.

Now, from here you could just mix everything together, but I layered it up like a trifle.  Looks prettier that way and I was taking it to some friends.  :)  Here's my first full layer: cool whip + pudding mix, then apples and snickers, topped with a drizzle of caramel.  

Then do it again...

Finish it off with one more layer of cool whip + pudding and a swirl of caramel.  Stick it in the fridge to set up a little bit.  Then enjoy!  

It tastes kinda like a caramel apple coated in peanuts, but even better!  I just had a bowl of some that I made two days ago and it was still delicious.  So easy and a perfect cool treat for summer!

Dump Truck Party

When you have a little boy that loves trucks and playing in the dirt, it's not hard to figure out a theme for his birthday party.  :)  For his second birthday, we got him a new dump truck (or five) and a pile of dirt and the party setup was pretty much done!

As you can see from the invitation above, we instructed the kids to wear old clothes so that they could play in the dirt!  Other than the dirt pile, my decorations and set up were very minimal.  The party was originally scheduled for a Saturday but with rain in the forecast, it got moved to Sunday at the last minute.  Of course, then it was sunny and hot, so we tried to make a shade canopy out of a tarp for little kids to be under.

Before I go any further, let me note that, like with every other birthday party we've had, I had a photographer come take pics of the fun for us.  Most pictures in this post are credited to Kasey McAlpin.

Oriental Trading was my friend when it came to decorations and favors.  I just ordered the construction theme stuff they had - caution tape, caution slap bracelets, construction glasses, flimsy plastic hard hats, and the cutest little orange cone cups I ever did see.  Matt picked up the Caution signs from Home Depot or Lowe's and I "scribble scrabbled" (Katie Wynn's term) on them literally minutes before the party started. 

Thomas certainly did not need any new toys - he already has tons! - so in lieu of gifts, we asked our guests to bring a package of socks.  We later donated them to the Memphis Union Mission - a shelter for homeless men that provides them with a place to sleep and a clean pair of clothes each day.  I feel certain that they appreciate the new socks very much!  At the entrance to our backyard, I set up a wheel barrow with a sign for Construction Crew Socks so our guests would know where to leave them.

The nice thing about it being from 3 to 5 is that I didn't feel obligated to serve a meal.  We had cake, ice cream, and drinks and called it a day.  

Quick attempt at a family photo before our guests arrived.  Not sure it was successful.

Now usually, Thomas is all about playing in some dirt.  But, he's shy like his sister and had just woken up from a nap, so he wanted nothing to do with it for a while.  In fact, for the first 30 minutes or so, I worried that the party was a big ol' flop.  

My sister-in-law, Erin, arrived with my nephews and they were the heroes that saved the party!  Those boys weren't scared to get dirty and it just took seeing them for all the other kids to realize they could go really play in the dirt too.  Phew! 

Here is a gallery of lots of pictures of the kids playing in the dirt.  Use the arrows on the sides to scroll through!

I had orange plastic cones out around the dirt pile (leftover from Katie Wynn's car wash party) that ended up making great shovels for the kids.  Glad I thought to get them out! 

When kids weren't in the dirt, they were busy swinging or playing in our hand-me-down playhouse.

Across the yard from the dirt pile, we had a wash station set up to clean off dirty hands and feet.  Everyone got a quick rinse before cake and ice cream.

My nephews had to get a complete scrub down, but I let my Dad handle that.  :)

With everyone clean, it was time for cake!  This was probably one of the easiest birthday cakes I've made.  I iced a chocolate cake with chocolate icing, used crushed oreos for some dirt and plopped on a couple of construction trucks.  The orange cones were the candles.

Guess who got shy again when everyone started singing?

Matt just blends in with all the kids.  :)

Our photographer needed to leave shortly after cake and ice cream, so we tried one more time for a family picture.  I'm not sure these are any better than the one at the beginning of the party!

I also had her get the four grandparents because I feel like I never have pictures of them!

Now, just because the photographer left, does not mean the fun ended!  The rest of these pictures were taken by either me or my mother-in-law, Patricia.  

After cake and ice cream, Thomas decided he wanted to check out that water bucket one more time.  It was only seconds before he climbed in it to play.

Eventually he found the hose and figured out how to use it.

The bigger kids wandered over to play...

...and for once in his life, little Thomas was in charge!  He had the hose and could spray them any time they got too close to his water bucket.  And oh, they squealed and ran!  It was too funny and too much fun!

Consider yourself warned: steer clear of Thomas when he has a water hose!

By the time our guests left, the kids were soaked from head to toe.  Better than covered in dirt, though, right?  It was a good party and fun was had by all!