I did the dresses

I think they turned out cute...can't wait to see the girls in them!!

Sewing Dilemma

I bought this really cute fabric at JoAnn's and I am not sure what to do with it!

Originally I planned to make Madeline and Cassie cute little pillowcase dresses...

photo credit:jen leheny.



But now I am thinking I need to make an adorable little skirt for me to wear!
photo credit: spool

Opinions?

From blogs to books?

I woke up this morning around 3:00 am with a random thought in my head. I think I remember someone telling be about a program or company that will take your blog and publish the posts into a book. Does anyone know anything about this? Was it reality or just a random product of my imagination?

Say what???

This afternoon Will and I ventured out with Madeline to the uniform store. I had explained to her that we were going to shop for new school clothes. She asked if she was going to get to pick some things out and I told her that the school had already picked her clothes out...that they were the school clothes. AS our drive continued Madeline became very quiet. After a while she asked me this question, "Momma, do I have to go to my new school naked?" Huh??? She was really worried that the clothes belonged to the school and had to stay at the school! Whew...I guess I need to make my explanations a little clearer!!

Thanks Kara!! :)

Because of a post written by my wonderful sister-in-law Kara (aka...the crazy lady that actually married my middle brother) I have been watching Jon and Kate Plus 8 reruns with Madeline. She always makes a comment about all those brothers and sisters! Now she is praying every meal and before bedtime for God to bring her a baby brother and a baby sister. So...well....ok then! I guess we aren't watching anymore of that show together :)

Hope the weekend is good to you!

P.S. - Here's a few pictures of Madeline and her friend Tanner playing with the waterhose today! What simple fun!!!

Pretty Produce!

Pretty produce from the garden!
I usually pick the garden each evening when it cools down...here's what we picked tonight.


The heat has been pretty high and I didn't go into the garden the last two nights. Here is what I found tonight! Look at those okra! They are enormous!!! I am sure they will be pretty tough but we'll see.
Here are two okra side by side for comparison!

Banana pepper...we've had several of these and they are so tasty!
Look! A baby cantaloupe!
Two little cucumbers
1 lonely jalepeno pepper
1 lonely bell pepper turning red finally! Sorry it is a little fuzzy!
Budding photographer
This is what the garden looked like towards the beginning

This is what the garden looks like now!
Happy Farmer Will!

Yummy Dessert

I recently came across this recipe and though I would give it a try. It was called Easy Cobbler but I am not sure the texture is really like a cobbler. We really liked it and I am sure I will be using it again!

2 cans fruit pie filling ( I used Lucky Leaf Premium Cherry)
1 yellow or white cake mix ( I use Duncan Hines)
1 stick of butter

Pour the fruit into a 9x12 dish.
pour the cake mix on top of the fruit.
Slice the butter into thin pats and dot across the top of the mix.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes. I took ours out after 30 minutes and wish I had let it cook a little longer. The edges were crispy and bubbly but the center was a little softer. There aren't any eggs in this so it's ok if it softer. I think it is just a preference!

***I made this tonight and actually cut it in half because I only had one can of pie filling. I used 1/2 the cake mix and 1/2 the butter. I put into a glass pie plate and because it was so rich I imagine that I will do this again***

If you give this a try, let me know! It was super tasty!

Conversation with Maddie

Maddie: "Yea!!! Chicken for dinner!!!"

Will: (teasingly) "Oops! They didn't give us any chicken legs!"

Maddie: "What? Huh? No legs??"

Will: "Nope, but they did give us chicken hands."

Maddie: (laughing) "Daddy...chickens don't have hands!"

Me: "They don't have hands???"

Maddie: "Nope! No hands, but they DO have fingers!"


(Get it? Chicken fingers???lol!!!!!)

We took Maddie to the pizza buffet a few weeks ago and the manager let her toss the pizza dough. Pretty good try!!

Learn to swim???

What have we been up to this week?
Swim Lessons!!
This is Madeline's first time to take swim lessons, her Nonnie and Pops gave them to her for her birthday. We love her instructor, Ms. Carol...she great!

She isn't afraid of the water but she pretty much refuses to open her eyes under water right now. Ms. Carol keeps calling her the blind swimmer!


As long as her head is above water she's good to go!




Here she is telling Ms. Carol, " No thanks! I don't really want to open my eyes under the water."

All the kiddos just waiting for their class to start.


Face in the water and moving along, but those eyes are clamped shut.




Before she jumped inito the water to Ms. Carol


Jumping into the water for Ms. Carol


Look Kara! She has a cone named Mr. Bob!

July 4th

Because Little Bit's bday is so close to the 4th we usually spend the holiday with each other and keep it low-key. We loved having the 4th on a Saturday because we got to spend 3 whole days together hanging out.
On Friday we camped out across the train tracks from the park in Forney, Texas and watched their little display. The weather was pleasant and so was the company!
On Saturday we decided to venture out a little further to the mighty metropolis of Terrell, Texas. Again, we scoped out a parking lot near the park and sat down with some of the locals and waited for the show to begin. One of the dads there came over and gave Maddie a couple glow rods and she just had fun playing with them:)

The lighting is bad here because Will was trying to get the glow but I think the attitude shines right through!

Here we are camping out in front of the truck.
I have to say that we were totally amazed at the show we saw in Terrell! The show was at least 25 minutes and the lot we parked in was so close that there were a few times we thought the fireworks were going to rain down on the truck! It was probably one of the best shows we have ever seen! I think we just discovered our new 4th of July tradition!

I am by no means a photographer but here are a few shots I thought looked cool.

Will took some with his camera but I haven't uploaded them yet...maybe another post!

On Sunday our friends, Josh and Kelsey, came over for supper and Madeline experienced her first sparklers. It is so fun to be with her as she experiences new things!

Where does the time go, I ask you?

This weekend marked our beautiful daughter's 4th birthday. We went with a ladybug theme.

My friend Elizabeth made the cute cupcakes and the sweet ladybug cake!




Thanks, Elizabeth Anne and Mr. Moe!!!



I spray painted plain white paper lanterns red and black and we rented one of those inflatable slides and ran water down it. The kids had a blast!! If you are looking for a good company to rent inflatables from, I highly recommend the one we used. They were insured, really affordable, and the did all the set up and take down!



Here's Tanner coming down the slide!


Here's Maddie!!


Mmmmm...icing!
{Arrin, Madeline, and Cassie}



All the kiddos

It was super hot and super bright during the party, but all the kids and parents were troopers!!

Kara and me
EDITED: {Please ignore the freaky lurker behind us. That's just my dork brother}

What a happy couple! We're not old enough to have a 4 year old, are we???


After Maddie and Cassie woke up from their naps, Kara and I put on our swimsuits and jumped in with the girls. Denise joined us while the rest of the family acted as lifeguards and photographers. It was soooo much fun!!!!! I tried really hard not to traumatize any readers with pictures of my extremely white and pasty self in a swimsuit! My family, however, took plenty of blackmail photos! I love you guys:):):):)!!!!!


Maddie at the end of the slide.


Maddie and Cassie had so much fun on the slide and playing together! They both were so exhausted!! The weekend was wonderful!!