Cold and Cookies

Anyone who knows me knows that I do not like cold weather.

At all.

When it gets cold I'm unmotivated to do anything other than bake cookies and eat them.

So, since we had our first real cold snap this week, that's exactly what my little baking beauty and I did!

Yummy pumpkin chocolate chip cookies!

I included the recipe for any other cold weather bakers out there.

No, even with the pumpkin, they are not good for you.

But they are so yummy it's worth it!

1 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 cup pumpkin

1 whole egg and 1 egg white

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups cholocate chips

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

powdered sugar

Sift sugar, four, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together in a medium mixing bowl.

Combine shortening, pumpkin, eggs, and vanilla in a smaller mixing bowl and then add them to the dry ingredients.

Blend well.

Add chocolate chips.

Blend well.

Drop by spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 9-11 minutes. 

Lightly dust with powdered sugar if desired.

Be careful not to overbake.  The cookies will be moist and cake-like.


Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

How to Eat a Cupcake in 7 Easy Steps

First, take a deep breath

Don't forget to make a wish!

Always start with the icing

and then straight into the center of the cake part.

Make sure it all gets in there...we don't want to waste a cupcake.

The most important thing to remember when eating a cupcake?

ALWAYS have two!

3

Well, since I still haven't figured out how to stop time, we've had another birhday over here.

This handsome little man

 

 

 who is so funny

and curious

and always adventurous

and often times silly

and will forever be my sweet little baby boy

turned 3.

Yes, 3! 

 No, I cannot believe it either.

Do you know why...

this handsome little man is so excited?

It's his first day of preschool!

He's been waiting a loooooong time for this.

I think I might kind of like it too.  Once I get over the fact that my baby is starting preschool! (*sob*)

Goodbye

This is one of my favorite pictures from our last beach trip.

I just love the way my children are holding hands.

I love the way that they are gazing out ove the ocean.

I love all the hair in Melody's ponytail.

I was thinking about this picture today.  Mainly because, for me, Labor Day is sort of the day I feel we all say goodbye to summer.  I'm excited about the new school year the four (yes, I said four! I'm finally back in school!) of us are embarking on.  I'm excited about activities and events that are already cluttering our calendar this fall. But I love summer.  I love the lazy days.  I love the freedom.  I even love the heat.  I love the heat a lot.  And I will miss summmer.  This was a special summer for my children and I.  And think of this summer fondly.

This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it!
Psalm 118:24 (NKJV)

A Last First and Sparkles

Tuesday was a big day for Melody. It was her last first day of preschool!  This year she is in the Zebra class and is very excited. 

The first first day of preschool... 

and now the last first day of preschool.

My little girl certainly has grown up.  And thankfully gotten more hair (although I do miss those little sprouts!)

 

Thank you all for your anniversary wishes. Alex and I went out and celebrated our 10 years by watching Captain America and...

doing a little jewlery shopping!!

My wonderful husband got me a new, beautiful wedding band in honor of our tenth.  The ring in the middle is my engagement ring and we had a diamond band placed on each side. Isn't it beautiful?!

Melody, of course, loves it as well.  I showed it to her and she asked to try it on and said, "Ooooh! It has so many sparkles and it fits just me!"

10

My husband and I have been married for 10 years today.  A decade.

I remember when we had our first anniversary and I felt like 1 year was a long time!  Hopefully, in 40 years, we will be celebrating somewhere remembering back to when we thought 10 years was a long time.

The first song on the slideshow (Songbird by Eva Cassidy) was our first dance at our wedding.  I just liked the second (Something that We Do by Clint Black). I actually almost picked Kelly Clarkson's My Life Would Suck Without You but realized my mother would flip if I paid tribute to my marriage with a song containing the word 'suck'.

This video encompasses the last 10 years of our lives together. It's a little long, but well, 10 years is a long time.

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

Oh, wait...what was I supposed to do?

That is the phrase I hear from Melody about 30 seconds after I tell her to do something.  That is if she even remembers I told her to do something.

Distraction.  All. The. Time.

Yes, I know she's absolutely adorable.  (Who can resist this sweet face?)

But cuteness can only take you so far.

And now something has to be done.

Here's the backstory:
For a while (read: the majority of her life to date) Melody has struggled with transitions.  Even when the transitions were in her favor (such as going to play a game with Mommy) there was a brief (but painful to the ears) high pitched whining sound, sometimes followed by a hand-to-the-forehead swoon or something equally dramatic, large tears rolling down her face as she proclaimed something to the effect of, "But whyyyyy must I play with you, Mommy, oh why oh why!"
You get the idea.
I spent a considerable about of time working on this with her. We practiced appropriate responses, I learned that she works best with (multiple) warnings of the pending change, etc.
And low and behold our transitional outburts are now few and far between!

But...

it seems we've traded one issue in for another.

While Melody is now (mostly) happy to follow through with any command, she can only rememeber what it is she's supposed to do for about 2.5 seconds.  And forget multiple step directions.  She doesn't have a prayer there.

I know that we all have different parenting ideas as to what is a reasonable expectation, etc.  However, we believe it's reasonable to expect a 4.5 year old to follow through with simple tasks...such as flushing the toilet.  And taking off her clothes, putting in the hamper, and changing into her pajamas.  I frequently find the clothes on the floor while Melody is running around nekkid oblivious to the fact that there was a follow through necessary for the task at hand.

I would welcome any suggestions, tips, tricks, etc, that will help her to remember what it is she supposed to be doing.  Something that will encourage her and help her stay focused and on task.

Who am I kidding...I'm begging for suggestions! 

Seriously, if I leave the house one more time and realize that Melody has yet again forgotten her shoes, you might see me on the evening news.  I'm just sayin'.

My handsome boy...

on the first day of 2nd grade!!

Upon first look, it might seem like I took both pictures today.  But this second picture is last year's picture; the first day of 1st grade.  If you look closely, you can tell what a difference a year has made.

Happy first-day-of-school, Jack! I hope you have a wonderful year!

7+ years

7+ years.

You are all probably wondering what I'm referring to.

That is the number of years I've been changing diapers on a daily basis.  (Unless, of course, I was with my mom, and then she did the diaper changing.  I owe her big for that!)

But, it has currently been exactly two weeks and two days since I have changed a diaper.

Beacuse this little boy became a big boy over night and is now potty trained!!

When I decided to bite the bullet and train him a few weeks ago, (he is almost three for goodness sake!) my mom and husband had some serious doubts of his readiness. 

He sure did show them! I'm happy to say he was my easiest trainer.

Great job, sweet Charles, we are SO proud of you!!

Bright and shiney things

Melody loves all bright and shiney things so I knew it was only a matter of time before she would want...her ears pierced!

She has been asking for a few weeks. I was ready for her to do it. Alex wasn't so sure. Melody and I discussed it and determined that ear piercing is really a girls' decision though. So, while at the beach last week, we decided to take advantage of a rainy morning and get pierced!

Melody was so excited but I knew she didn't really understand what piercing meant.

She could tell something was going on.

I think she thought all was well and good when she got a lollipop.

Then she found out what ear piercing really was!

Fortunately they did both ears at the same time.

I really think she thought the pain was worth it when she saw them!

And a kiss makes everything better!

(All photos courtesy of the talented Pam P3 Powell.)

Putt-Putt

Last week I blogged about our beach trip.  While the sand and surf was fun, that wasn't all we did.  We played an exciting game of...putt-putt!

Jack was thrilled when he saw that there was a putt-putt course right outside our room.  He has played a few times and is a self-proclaimed expert.

On Saturday night, after dinner, the four of us decided to tackle the putt-putt course.

This is how our game went:

We spend a lot of time decided what color balls to get. (Yes, much to Melody's dismay, Charlie also insisted on a pink ball.)

Jack announced to everyone else on the course that he was a putt-putt expert.  After all, he has played before.  Twice.

Charlie misunderstood the purpose of the game and just ran around grabbing balls.

This prompted me to repeatedly yell out, "Charlie, stop grabbing other people's balls!"  Fortunately, that provided amusment to the other families playing putt-putt in a more calm manner.

Melody wanted me to help her with each wack of the club.  This provided ample time for Charlie to continue is ball-stealing spree.

Jack continued to show off his "expert skills" by louding proclaiming all he knew about putt-putt, water hazards, bunkers, putt-putt compared to real golf...

You get the idea.

Finally, we finished.

 (I know you are all going to say how adorable Melody's outfit is and, yes, I agree.  It's a creation by my friend, Sherry, who designs all kind of adorable children's clothes and accessories.  Visit her here...and she's having free shipping until July 1!)

And what's a game of putt-putt without ice cream afterwards? (I told Melody and Charlie to take off their shirs since ice cream sandwiches and white don't really mix, and Charlie decided just to strip all the way down.  Literally.  I stopped the diaper removal just in time.)

Would you believe that, after all that, I let them talk me into playing again the next day! The sun must have really bleached my brain.

(Who am I kidding...we had a blast, ball stealing and all!)

Sand, Surf and Fun!

Our summer has been off to a fun start!  After celebrating Jack's 7th birthday, we headed to Destin, FL for a few days.  My dad had a conference there so we went down to mooch off them keep Grammy from getting too bored.

And it was anything but boring!

We immediately started our sea shell hunt

followed by a refreshing dip in the waves

And some of the waves were pretty big!

Jack learned how to boogie-board.  Yes, I taught him.  You probably don't know this but I am an expert boogie-boarder.

And what would a trip to the beach be without a rockin' sand castle!

What fun trips does your family have planned this summer?

I've been hacked!

Or perhaps a more accurate title is: My boys have been hacked!

Or maybe just: My baby boy was hacked!

For the past couple of summers, I've given Jack a short hair cut just to help combat the little boy stink unique scent that tends to accompany boys.  This summer, I was planning on letting it grow longer but he asked to have it short.  So, following his birthday dinner at Orient Express and then dessert at Yoforia, we all went out on the deck to watch the transformation.

He went from this

to this

I, personally, think he looks cute with a buzz cut and he loved it.

Then, completely against my will, my husband decided to hack of my sweet Charlie's beautiful baby locks.  Ok, I might have consented in one brief moment of insanity that I will regret forever.

I admit, he was getting a little shaggy looking.

 And don't even get me started on the sweaty mop that was his head when he would come inside from playing.

But I just wasn't ready for my little baby boy to go from this

to this!

Sigh.  At least they are both happy.

even though I feel like this.

(Alex took this right after the first few locks were shorn, which is why his head still looks funny.)

Hosted by Krystyn at Really, Are You Serious?