Adventures in Mommyhood

Claire-Bear turned 5 today.  It seems like not long ago she was blowing out  four candles  and now yesterday it was five.  To celebrate we had her grandma and grandpa over along with her Aunt Larissa and Uncle Clint and her cousins.  She requested a menu of brats, baked beans, chips and fruit salad, so that's what we had.  I had make cupcakes  with the left-over cake batter from her birthday cake, so she was easy on me and we used those for dessert.  I think if you put anything on a white porcelain cake plate it takes it up a notch, anyway. On Saturday, we had her first "friend party."  We had a nice little crowd of 4 little girls join us for a (loosely) themed Strawberry Shortcake party in the park. THE CAKE:  Strawberry Shortcake's Hat!  I used a 10" cake pan for the brim (it used an entire cake mix) and a oven-proof mixing bowl for the top of the hat.  I found strawberry gummies at the candy store downton, and the bow is made from fruit-by-the-foot.  It

For the last year and a half, Claire has had a standing weekly play-date with her best friend Mary Elizabeth.  In a couple of days, Mary Elizabeth is moving far away and those play-dates won't happen anymore.  Claire's mommy is sad about this for many reasons. 1) I love Mary Elizabeth.  She has a lot of spunk.  If you've ever read Junie B. Jones, that is how I would best describe her.  She has a great imagination, she's not afraid to get dirty, she keeps you on your toes and she is super sweet and she loves Claire.  I am so thankful that she was Claire's first real friend. 2)  I am going to miss Mary Elizabeth's mom, Katie.  She is a sort of kindred spirit, and I have found that it is hard to find kindred spirits when you are in your 30s and immersed in the world of laundry and child-rearing.  I have enjoyed discussing books, cooking, raising children and gardening with her.  We see eye-to-eye on many things.  Fortunately, she has a  blog  so I can keep up

My baby girl is a walker!  I believe that it is normal for babies to take up to 17 months to start walking.  Well this girl is 16.75 months and she decided to spare her mamma some sleepless nights and she started WALKING tonight!  First she started with 5 or 6 steps between my  mom and I, A few minutes later she was walking all over the place!  I knew she could do it!

Oh what a happy Day!  The two dads in my life were her to celebrate (well, I guess one of them is ALWAYS here, but the other one was here to visit, which is special :)).  I made the dads blueberry pancakes and sausage and then saw them off to a Father's Day golf tournament.  Mom and I taught Sunday School together.  In the afternoon, the Dads and my Mom took the kids swimming and I enjoyed a blissful  couple hours at home alone picking up the house and getting supper ready.  When the swimmers returned we feasted on: Memphis Style Ribs w/ homemade BBQ sauce Pasta salad Baked Beans Fresh Fruit Hummus and Veggies Cream Puff Dessert Cream Puff is Lance's favorite dessert.  My grandma used to make it and I would classify it as a classic midwestern pot-luck dessert.  It is SOOO good. Here's the recipe:  CREAM PUFFS 1/2 cup butter 1 c. water 4 eggs 2 packages of instant vanilla pudding 8 oz cream cheese 3 c. milk 12 oz cool whip Chocolate syrup Melt butter in 1 c. water and bri

{this moment} {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

My little garden is staring to show some promise.  This year I am doing several tomatoes and peppers in pots so I can put them where we have the most sun in our yard.  I have tried peppers for the past 2 years with NO success, so I am hoping that the new location will yield good results.  Anyway, here's a look at my garden as it is today: The first tomato blossoms opened up.... wish I had a better camera to capture them with... My cilantro is coming along.  I snipped some for the fajitas we had the other night.  The kids added some to theirs too.  I have had really poor success with cilantro in years past.  This winter I did a little research and learned that I needed to do it from seed, not transplant.  So that's what I do and I am adding new seed every week or so, so that I'll have fresh ready to pick all summer long. My first year for zucchini.  This plant is probably the best looking one in my garden so far.  There are a ton of blossoms already.  I hope to ma

Uggg. My baby is 7!  Holy Cow that is OLD!  How did this happen- I just don't get it. Fisher at 7: His favorite color is yellow- it had been black for years. He loves to play video games, but is awesome about respecting the time limits we have in place- even if he isn't happy about them. If he can't play video games, he wants to be read to.  This year we've read lots of chapter books.  Our favorites have been "The Wind and the Willows," all 7 "Chronicles of Narnia," and we are just finishing up "The Secret Garden."  I highly recommend all of these books- Lance and I loved all of them and Fisher was captivated by them all. He wants to grow his hair out like his cousin Jack His favorite food is shrimp- he will even eat them cold.  He also loves high-quality beef-jerky (which we bought him as one of his birthday presents) He still wants to cuddle with his Mommy every night.  His Mommy loves this more than words can say. Ok, so