100

Have you been outside lately?

HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And the worst part is...it's gonna be hotter!  Seven days of 100+ heat.  Drat and double drat!

So, I thought I would help you think cooler thoughts with some memories of our "blizzard" earlier this year.

How many years has it been since it snowed like this?  Nine, maybe?  When he saw these pictures, Ty told me he wants it to snow more.  Sorry, Ty.  It ain't happenin'.  Not here at least.

I got the monkeys all bundled up before we went out to play.  This sort of reminds me of the movie, "A Christmas Story."  "I can't put my arms down!"  Isn't that movie the greatest?  Love the leg lamp!

Lucy wasn't the biggest fan of the snow.  I guess the cold, stinging, wet drops of snow pelting her in the face wasn't her idea of fun.  Oh, well!

The Tool Man and Ty constructed a makeshift sled out of a cardboard box.  No, it didn't work too well.  The snow was too soft.  The "sled" just sank.  Maybe they should have done like some other folks I heard about and pulled the boat behind the tractor.  Can you say red-neck?

Of course we had to build a snowman.  This was the biggest one I've ever built.  My previous record was about 18" tall.  Had you ever seen so many snowmen in all your life?  There was at least one in every yard, and they stayed around for days!

Ty's favorite thing to do with the snow was EAT it.  He must have consumed a gallon!  We made snowcream too.  I'd never had any before, and I thought it was pretty good.  I still think it's a little unsanitary though.  I mean, you wouldn't wanna make lemonade using rain, would you?  I dunno, I guess once every nine years won't hurt you.

Well, I hope all this talk about snow has helped cool you down some.

One other thing.  This post is entitled "100" for another reason too.  This is my 100th post!  Yippee!  When I started this blog I wasn't sure that I would keep it up.  But here I am, 10 months later, still going strong.  I didn't know I had that much to say!  Thanks everyone for following along.  I love to hear that y'all have been reading.  And a special "Thanks" to Car-Car.  I really love getting comments!

What's For Dinner?

I told y'all that I would let you know how supper turned out the other night.  Remember I was making a recipe from the Pioneer Woman.  Murphy's Hot Hamburgers.  Well, they were GREAT!  I was especially pleased with how the oven baked fries turned out...CRISPY!  I like crispy.  I think it may have been because I used my convection oven for baking them.

So with one hit already this week, I was encouraged to try another recipe from PW's site.  This one was recommended by AR.  Make Ahead Muffin Melts.  It's basically english muffins topped with egg salad.  I have to admit that my first thought was "weird," but I decided to give it a whirl.

Here they are.

Mmmmmmmmm!  Mama like.  Daddy like too, but he's not the biggest fan of hard boiled eggs, so I don't know if I'll be making this again just for the two of us.

Since this dish was kind of brunch-y I decided to make these cinnamon bun pancakes I also found on PW's site.  Good, but I think the pancakes would have been better if I had made some icing to drizzle over the top instead of just using maple syrup.

You do know that that is sausage on the bottom, not little burnt pancakes, right?

What's Up Down by the Creek?

This morning we made a quick trip to see the doctor...again.  We were just in for Lucy's one year checkup last week (more on that later), but I had to take her back again today.  She's been running fever since Thursday evening.  Since she didn't really have any other symptoms, the Tool Man and I thought we should just wait it out before we took her to the doctor.  I mean, we don't want to be construed as paranoid parents.  Fever can be a good thing after all.  It just means that your body's immune system is working like God designed it, right?  Well, Sunday rolled around, and Lucy was still having bouts of fever, so we took her to the doctor today.

And the verdict?

Ear infection.

Another one!  That makes three!  Unfortunately, I was informed that four ear infections in 12 months constitutes a visit to the ENT.  Uggh!  I really don't want to do the whole tube thing again.  Ty's had two sets, and it's just a pain worrying with those ear plugs.

Let's see...what else has been going on around here?

Construction!

Yep.  We got a little bit more done on the rooms upstairs.  Maybe we'll finish the upstairs before the monkeys graduate high school ;)  I'm just about ready to kick little LuLu out of my room.  Doesn't that sound horrible.  But I really think that we would all sleep better if she was in her own room.

What else?

Shopping!

I was searching for some things for the new rooms this weekend.  I found this really great Dash & Albert throw for Ty's bed.  I'm going for a cottage-y/country look for the kids' rooms, and I thought this would be the perfect thing to dress Ty's bed.  It's so soft, and it's the perfect weight.  Not too heavy, but still warm enough.  I do hate to be hot at night.

My dear mother also talked me into buying some knick knacks for a project for Lucy's room.  I haven't decided on all the details for that one, but once I get it done I'll share it with you.

Scrapbooking!

I've really got to get on the stick with my scrapbooks.  Now that Lucy is one, I've been trying to get her baby book finished up.  I've done a pretty good job keeping up with all of her information for the first year.  Now I'm going back through all the pictures I've taken during the past year and designing some pages to fill her book.  I've only been doing digital pages lately.  I know it sounds lazy, but it makes me tired just thinking about pulling out all those scrapping supplies and cutting, arranging, pasting, etc.  Not to mention having to clean up all that mess.  Whew!  And remember my list?  Scrapbooking is not one of those things you can do while holding a baby.  So, for right now, digital is the way to go.

Return to "Normal"?!

Could it be that our home life is finally beginning to return to its "normal" pre-pizza state?

Maybe?!

I'm doing something tonight that I haven't done in quite a while...COOK!  Exciting isn't it?  (My mom doesn't agree.)  Inspired by my friend, AR, to visit the Pioneer Woman, I'm going to try out a recipe from her collection.  Murphey's Hot Hamburgers  The photo makes my mouth water.  I'll have to let you know how they turn out.

Well, off to cook!

Pizza, Anyone?

One of our "foxy friends" up at the restuarant had a birthday yesterday, so I was recruited to make him a pizza cake.  The "sauce" is just colored icing, and the "cheese" is grated white chocolate.  The pepperoni?  Fruit gummies rolled flat and cut into circles.  I wasn't there when the crew tore into the cake, but I think it was a big hit!

"Tricked-out" Tank Top

Here's my latest crafting adventure.

I picked up this basic white tank top a few weeks ago, and have been trying to decide how I should embellish it for little LuLu.

Well, I finally decided to use up some scraps of knit that I had laying around.  A few ruffles and gathers later, and this is what I ended up with.......

How do you like?

Tiny Toes

I mentioned a few posts ago that I had a fun little surprise for you.  Well, this is it.

Lucy's first pedicure!

The Tool Man grabbed the camera and recorded this momentous occassion for us.

"I want this color, Mama."

I was really surprised that Lucy sat still long enough for me to paint her nails.  But her little toes are so tiny that all it took was a "dot, dot, dot," and we were done.

You can tell Lucy was really enjoying this.  She did kick one time, and this is what happened.

Oh well!  No harm done.

Ty's Re-Birthday

Have you seen the movie How to Train a Dragon.  Well, we took Ty to see it a couple of months ago, and he loved it.  He's always had an affinity for dragons.

Last week, on a trip down the clearance aisle at Wal-Mart Ty spotted a large stuffed dragon from the movie.  This particular dragon was called a Nightmare.  He just had to have it, and in a weak moment, I gave in and bought it for him.  He's carried that thing around faithfully for a week now, taking it everywhere from the grocery store to Sunday School.  And of course he has to sleep with it every night.

Now that you have some background information, here's the meat of the story...

Friday night, when his Daddy was tucking him into bed, Ty prayed, as he usually does, that Tim, Lucy, and I would not have bad dreams.  Then he added that he didn't need God to help him, because he had the Nightmare to keep his bad dreams away.  Do you see the dilemma here?  Daddy gently, but firmly explained to Ty the problem.  Ty was essentially using the dragon to replace God.  And when it comes right down to it, it was idolatry, plain and simple - trusting in the dragon instead of in God.  Ty was upset by his mistake, but he wasn't quite sure what to do about it.  Tim suggested that he ask for forgiveness, but Ty admitted that he couldn't make up his mind whether or not to do that.

Let me just say here that it is not fun to watch your child struggling with the devil.  That's what it was.  Satan was fighting tooth and nail to try to keep Ty from trusting God.  But Tim and I were praying.  Praying that God would burden Ty so much that he wouldn't be able to shake it.  And burden him He did!  He wrestled with it all night and the next day.

Late Saturday night I could tell something was on Ty's mind.  I was pretty sure I knew what it was, but I wanted to hear it from Ty.  He finally told me he was feeling bad about the events of the previous night.  I explained to him that he was hearing the Holy Spirit talking to his heart.  He was showing Ty the sin in his life and "knocking" on the door to Ty's heart.  That satisfied him for a few minutes, but in a little while he came back to me saying the same thing.  This time we prayed that God would show Ty what he ought to do, and that He would give Ty the courage to do it.  A third time, Ty told me he just couldn't stop thinking about what he had said to God.  (By the way, this story sort of reminds me of Samuel hearing God call him over and over in the middle of the night.)  Then we pulled out the Bible and read some Scriptures in Romans.  "Confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead....."  I asked Ty if he thought he should do this. He said, "Yes."

So we prayed, and Wham-o!  Jesus came in!!!  Just like that.  Just that fast.  Talk about seeing a weight lifted.  That was one relieved little boy.  Remember what it was like to have that burden removed?

Ty immediately wanted to call everyone he knew to tell them that he had asked Jesus into his heart.  But since it was 11 PM I convinced him that he probably should wait until morning.  Then Ty got out some paper and drew pictures of his salvation experience.  One was a picture of Jesus inside Ty's heart, and another was a picture of Jesus working on Ty's heart, much like a wood carver would work with a piece of wood.  Great analogy Ty!

Happy Re-Birthday little Buddy!

Happy First Birthday, Lucy!

Well, my baby girl is officially one year old now.  It just doesn't seem possible.  I still think of her as being a newborn.  Amazingly, I was able to get everything done in time for her party.  And everything turned out great if I do say so myself!

Here are couple of photos from her "I Love Lucy" party.  Lucy got so many wonderful gifts - lots of cute clothes and some fun dolls.  She also got a doll house of her very own.  (She's been playing with Ty's Batman Cave.  Which if you ask me looks a lot like a boy version of a doll house, but don't tell the Tool Man I said that.)  And check out that LSU bonnet that Grammie gave her.  How cute!

These were the party favors that I made.  What "I Love Lucy" party would be complete without some chocolates?

Who says that Daddy's can't play dolls?

How sweet!!!!!  This picture makes me think, "Little Bo Peep."

She needed a little help blowing.

This little piggy likes her sweets.  That's a combo of icing and icecream on her lips.

Lucy and Pappaw playing with one of her new dolls.

Party Decor

Here are the photos of my party decorations that I promised.  I'll share some more details about the decorations later.  I wouldn't want to spoil all the fun before the party.

As you can see I'm going with a black, white, and red color scheme.  That's easy for me to do since the kitchen in our first house was done in these colors.  I have plenty of tablecloths, napkins, and accessories that work perfectly with this theme. 

Oh, and here's Lucy's party invitation.

 I was just going to design something on the computer and print the whole thing out, but I got all crafty instead and made these using some of my scrapbooking supplies.  (I do miss scrapbooking... Alas, with each day that passes, I'm getting further and further behind.)  If the front of the invitiation looks a little fuzzy it's because it's covered with vellum.  The little picture of Lucy is layered behind the vellum.

Puff Painting

A couple of weeks ago, I came across this neat craft online.  It's make-your-own puff paint.  The coolest part about this craft is that once you paint your design, you microwave it.  Yes, I said microwave.  You can go here to find the recipe to make your own puff paint.
 

Ty and I both painted a picture.  Mine is the blue one and Ty's is the pink (can you guess what it is?)........................dog.

It was really neat to watch the paintings bubble and "poof" in the microwave.  The recipe has self-rising flour in it, so I guess this was really just like baking.

Although I would not recommend eating!

Party Planning

The little monkey's birthday is this Saturday, and party preparations are in full swing.  Fox's has sort of zapped all of our time and energy the past few weeks, so I was a little worried about being able to pull off a party worthy enough for Lu Lu's first birthday.  Then I had the bright idea of just having Sunday lunch in town, and inviting everyone to join us for a party at a restaurant.  But...........I was gently guilted encouraged to bite the bullet and give her a "real" party.

So I've been taking advantage of every spare minute to get the house ready for a party.

This year's party theme?

I know.  I know.  Clever.  Cute.  Creative.

I've nearly got all of the decorating complete.  Now I could let you believe that I'm being super resourceful by decorating days in advance, but what I'm really doing is putting off the housework as long as I possibly can.

For the menu I've planned chicken spaghetti, salad, and garlic bread.  And for the cake, I decided to make cupcakes!  I've printed out "I Love Lucy" clipart to use as cupcake toppers.  When they are all decorated in red, black, and white they will be so cute.  Can't wait to show y'all some pictures when they're done.

I don't have time right now (got to go make some pizza), but later today, I'll try to post some pictures the party invitations and some of the things I've got decorated so far.

I've got something else fun to show y'all too, but I'm going to let that be a surprise.  Hopefully I'll have time to tell you about it this evening.

Reading, Writing, and 'Rithmetic

For the first time in my life, I am actually experiencing some positive excitement about the upcoming new school year.  Ty's new 1st grade curriculum arrived this week, and I have been browsing through the material trying to get a jump on things.  This year I have decided to use the aBeka curriculum.  I have a few reasons why I chose it.

1.  I'm familiar with it.  This is the same material that I used when I was in elementary.  Even though that was roughly 20 years ago (Eek!) I can still remember some about how this was taught to me.  Everything from letter formation, to phonics blends, to health and safety is coming back to me as I flip through Ty's new textbooks.

2.  Easier Preparation & Lesson Planning.  Rather than purchasing books for each subject individually, I ordered the parent and child kits from aBeka.  I think this is going to work out great, because the lesson plans are already written for me.  The lessons are broken down step-by-step, with a full list of all the supplies you will need each day.  The lessons even include exact phrases that the teacher should say, and they tell you how many minutes should be spent on each part of the lesson.  The material also comes with all the worksheets and tests that we will need each week, so I don't have to go running around trying to find or create those on my own.

3.  Bible-Based Curriculum.  My most important reason for choosing aBeka is its Christian foundation.  Moral and Christian concepts are incorporated into every part of the curriculum.  Handwriting practice includes copying Scripture.  Arithmetic word problems aren't just about apples and oranges, but speak of mothers and fathers and friends.  One of Ty's readers this year is a Bible primer, with a selection of well-loved Bible stories.  Health is explained in terms of why God created our bodies the way He did.  And the science textbook is entitled Discovering God's World.  I doubt we'll find anything about the big bang theory in there :)

I've already been working on laminating some pictures and flashcards, and I've got a short shopping list of things I'd like to pick up before we start school this year.  I want to get some kind of storage cabinet or drawers to keep all of Ty's school things in.  And I'd like to get him a desk that is all his own, just for his school work.  I think this is really important since we will be starting cursive writing this year.  I've just got to get him a good place to sit so he will be able to write properly.  I know I could probably just hop on over to Target and find something there, but wouldn't it be much more fun to browse Antique Alley looking for just the right pieces with just the right character?

Ty was so excited when his books arrived this week.  He really loved looking through his science and history books.  He was begging me to try some of the experiments at 11:00 the other night.  I just hope he will be as enthusiatic once school actually begins.  Maybe ya'll could pray about that for me :)

Sorry there are no pictures here today.  But, if you'd like to see some of Ty's school books you can look here on aBeka's website.  Then just click on any of the product numbers to view the books.

My Thoughts Exactly

I found this vintage image online several months ago, and I can sooooooo relate. 

Don't you just think this is hilarious?

How to Make Your Own Pizza

We finally had a little down time at the restaurant the other day, so the Tool Man decided to let Ty make his own pizza.  Ty loves to cook, so this was right up his alley.

Step 1.  Docking the dough.  This step is the most difficult part of the whole process.  There's a little trick to getting the dough the right thickness while making it just the right size for the pan.  Daddy was there to show Ty just how to do it.  (FYI:  The Tool Man has taken to throwing the pizza dough on occassion.  Show Off!)

Step 2.  Sauce the pizza.  Pretty self-explanatory.  Get a scoop of sauce, dump it on the pizza, and spread it out.

Step 3.  Top it!  Definitely the most fun part of the process.  Ty chose to go with your basic cheese and pepperoni.

Step 4.  Into the oven.  About 5 1/2 minutes from the time it enters the oven til it emerges on the other side.  I'm telling you, your tummy will start growling when you see and smell all that bubbling cheese coming out the other end of the oven.

Step 5.  Slicing and Dicing.  I love the way that fresh baked crust sounds as the cutter is rolling through it.  Just a little crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside.  Yumm-O!

Step 6.  Enjoying the fruits pizza of your labor!