7 quick takes

1 - I wanted to post a song to go with the heat.  Buster Poindexter's "Hot Hot Hot" is just a little too peppy.  So I went with Badly Drawn Boy's "The Shining" which is nice and slow and thick.  I thought it fit.

2 - Thursday was a pie baking day at my house.  Remember when I said I needed to make some money to pay for a trip so I could see my friend profess final vows with the Nashville Dominicans?  Well, my mom is often hired by local women to bake home made pies for certain events.  One such event (an ice cream social at the park) is tonight and we baked four apple pies and one blueberry pie for $8 each.  Every little bit helps!

3 - Here's what we did on the 4th of July:

We made red, white, and blue skewers.  The kids mostly ate marshmallows and complained about how they don't like blueberries.

I did all the prep work and made mine while they were still in quiet time.  By getting all my ridiculous perfectionist tendencies out of the way I was able to let the kids just enjoy themselves.

Thank you, Pinterest.

I tried to get a cute picture of my four awesome kids.  This is as good as it got.

I ate waaaaaay too many patriotic rice krispie treats.

Another thanks to Pinterest here.

Travis set off fireworks and the kids held hands while they watched.  I think it was one part excitement, one part fear, and one part safety.

Poor Lydia momentarily forgot all the warnings and reminders and touched a recently extinguished sparkler. Here's a picture of our little burn victim holding her injured hand in ice water while her daddy holds her ice cream.  It's cute.

4 - One of my favorite sites to visit is Big Pulpit.  Every day Tito Edwards posts links to the best Catholic blog articles out there.  Along with National Catholic Register, I check out Big Pulpit almost every day.  I just wanted to share it in case you hadn't heard of it yet.  Enjoy! 

5 - Let's take a moment to appreciate how cute my little Teresa Marie is...

Six weeks and so, so sweet!

6 - Tomorrow our good friends, and Teresa's godparents, are getting married.  Travis and I are so happy for them and we're so excited to share in their joyous day.  Yay for MVV and Liz!

We love you!



7 - This one's for R, who left a sympathetic message for Travis in my comment box.

Review of Christmas #1 - What I baked

Perfect chocolate crinkles, they were my impossibly hard to shop for dad's Christmas present.

Homemade dinner rolls.

So grateful to Lisa for sharing the recipe with me.  And YAY for breadmachines!

My first ever homemade cheesecake. 

Me saying a prayer before it goes in the oven. 

Well, okay, it was a staged picture but I did say a prayer.

Four hours later - perfect.

It was creamy.  It was yummy.  It was one of my life goals met.

Thanks to Jen for sharing this recipe with me.

And here's a picture of my really cute kids playing together.  It has nothing to do with baking but everyone needs a good dose of cute in their lives. 

 

the perfect little onesie

Hey folks! 

LB, Why wasn't this shirt in existence for when L,B, and J were born?  Such a shame!

My dear friend Laura - affectionately known as LB around these parts - has opened an Etsy shop called TheOnesie.   They. are. adorable!  Laura has been crafting and creating for a long time - her work is quality and fun. 

If you're pregnant or you have a loved one with an upcoming shower check out her store.  And buy something, by golly!  You'll be glad you did.  :)

cute cute cute

I'm still pregnant

And in other news, here's how Lydia prays the "Hail Mary" as she kneels on the steps:

Hail Mary, full of God,

the Lord is with thee.

Blessed mumble mumble

Mumble LORD JESUS!

(repeat)

Okay, and now that I've posted this picture of Lydia and St. Therese I have to tell you this story. 

A few weeks ago she was holding St. Therese, cuddling with her and giving her a bottle.  Then she went into the playroom, the Little Flower in hand, and after a moment came back out alone, shutting the door behind her. 

"Shhhhh," she said to me, "St. Therese is sleeping." 

When we went into the playroom later there was St. Therese, napping in the pack and play.  :)

daily dose of cute

She's talking about a s'more. 

And yes, she is very dirty from playing outside.

7 quick takes

-1-

Sometimes she insists on wearing a jacket (in the middle of the summer).  Of course that's not the only odd thing happening in this picture, but it's the only one I'll comment on.

-2-

Of course L is cute in this pic, but B is just ADORABLE!!!!

-3-

L's first ever ponytail.  And she didn't take it out.

-4-

You mean you don't put mini marshmallows on your legs?

-5-

This is from the photoshoot for the 1st birthday invitation.  If only the eyes were open...  it's so close to perfect!

-6-

Trav's first day back in the classroom and there were 4 garbage bags filled with clothes for L.  They are all sizes 4 & 5.  One of these days I'll sort through them and weed out the ones we'll use and pass on the rest.  There's a lot of cute clothes in there, and I'm not sure how much we'll actually need.  Until then, there will most likely be bundle of clothes in our dining room.  It's very charming.

(Thank you to the co-worker who gave these to us!  They will be very helpful!)

-7-

Doesn't this look soooo nice.  :)

Daily Dose of Cute

Daily Dose of Cute

in need of your daily dose of cute?

cutie pies ready for the summer

Bennet has been cruising for awhile now.  He'll go all around the living room, and he's even so good that when he does fall he lands on his butt 80% of the time, instead of falling flat on his back.  Bennet has also been introduced to the wonderful world of crackers, although most of the time he'll only eat a little bit of table food and then hold out for a bottle.

Lydia is thrilled that her daddy is home every day now, and when she's not requesting to watch Up, she is insisting on helping him.  As she told me yesterday, "You stay here.  I need to go outside and see Daddy and my grandpa." 

Dear Clark Kent

A good friend teaches 6th grade English and Reading.  She gave her students an assignment to write a letter in standard letter writing format.  It could be to anyone.  One of her students chose Clark Kent.  His letter follows, posted here with her permission.  It is hilarious and will hopefully brighten your day a little.

April 8, 2010


Clark Kent
501 Newark St.
Metropolis, MN 73247

Dear Clark Kent,

I don't know if anyone's told you this before, but...uh...well...I know you're Superman. All you do is change clothes, take off your glasses, and twirl your hair. I mean, come on! At least with your powers you could get plastic surgery everytime you go "Super-man!" Just giving you a heads up. Hey, by the way, do you wear Superman PJs or something? 'Cause that would be kind of redundant. I heard that you really wear Chuck Norris PJs.

Your Friend,

----

too cute not to share

Last night Lydia was playing in her kitchen, which I had equipped with an old cell phone.

This is the following conversation she pretended to have with her Aunt Meg:

Hello!...  How are you?...  Good!...  Okay...  I'll call you back.  Bye!

So cute!

Singing and Swinging

Can life get any better? Maybe, but I doubt it.

tickle tickle

One of these days I will remember to NOT hold the camera vertically while filming.

Yesterday I was holding Lydia as she napped. My cell phone, which was in the pocket of my jacket, began to ring but since she was on it I couldn't get to it. When it finished ringing she woke up, pushed herself off my chest, looked at me with big eyes and said, "Phone." She then laid back down and went back to sleep.

She is too cute.

July pictures

Lydia with her Daddy waiting for fireworks.

Asleep in the car - sooo cute!

Petting bunnies with her godmother at the 4H fair.

Checking out the animals at the zoo.

Playing with balloons at her cousin's party.

Going down the dirty stairs.

Pretending to be Nick after having eating out at Firehouse Pizza.

(Because Nick always wears pink socks when he's fighting fires.)

Happy Halloween!

Lydia in her "I love my Mummy" sleeper on her first Halloween morning.

Letting everyone at EC know that it's her 1st Halloween.

Posing at the lake in her costume. She's the cutest lion ever! Today we went to several offices at EC, showing off her cuteness and trick or treating for Unicef. Here's Lydia playing with our Trick or Treat for Unicef container.

Roar!

Wellies

I'm in love with Wellington boots. A few years ago I saw a picture of Kate Winslet in a great pair of these and have silently wanted a pair for years, though I didn't know anything about them. With all the rain I was looking for galoshes and found these. I love them!