Can't post in the body of the blog - darn!

Fallin'

Things I love about Fall:

Being able to wear a long-sleeved (or 3/4 length - are those still in style??) shirt and walk outside without feeling sweat start to drip immediately. Texas may have super hot summers, but I wouldn't trade it for super cold winters. But it sure is nice when fall rolls around.

School supplies! And now that I have a child in school I get to enjoy this fall-ish thing again. So fun... am I weird? Surely I'm not alone here. And I guess the school supplies technically had to be purchased during summer, but at least it means fall is surely coming.

That I can still wear sandals or flip-flops. I really dislike socks and shoes, but as I'm getting older, I'm staring to think my feet need them. I recently purchased a pair of new running shoes. I'll let you know once I test them out... hopefully within the 30 days I have to return them!

Pumpkin patch fun. There is a great pumpkin patch here that we have gone to the last few years. Everything is free, but they encourage you to bring a donation of canned goods. There are bounce houses, hayrides, TONS of wooden cutouts for picture taking fun, hay mazes, etc. The kids have more and more fun every year, and it's so fun to watch.

Fall decor. I really don't like Halloween decorations, so I had the "Give Thanks" centerpiece up in October. I had a five-year-old tell me, "It's not November yet." But who cares!! If Beth can start playing Christmas music on November 1, I can certainly decorate for Thanksgiving mid-October.

Thanksgiving.

College Football. More specifically, Texas Tech football. One thing I do not like about Fall is what happens to my husband after a Texas A&M loss. It's a strange and sad thing, really.

I totally forgot to post this on my day - Wednesday, so pardon me, Staci. :)

amelia

Any Excuse to Dress Up

I love dressing up. Still. Why should you only be able to dress up once a year?! While I'm not too hot on celebrating Halloween, I love coming up with costume ideas (mainly for my children now) and then executing them. This year, my girls are hitting the princess stage, and I cannot say that I'm thrilled about it. Sure, they'll look cute in their princess garb... just like every other princess out there prancing around the streets. Oh well. I'm being a good mom by letting them choose for themselves, right? So here are a couple of my old costume pics that I had handy. One is from high school, and I remember having so much fun at that party. I was Marilyn Monroe with the big hair and formal gown... laying across people's laps on the couch. (Mary didn't have her Ace of Spades costume on in the picture, but see if you can find her.)

And here's a post-College days Halloween picture. I'm the nerd on the left. I was actually with a whole group of nerds... too bad I don't have a handy picture of the entire nerd group. My favorite part was my retainer, but you can't really see it in this picture. I even dressed up in my nerd gear at my "real" job that year (or maybe the year before) with my co-worker. I guess it was quite appropriate for us bankers. Another year, we dressed up as an 80's prom king and queen. We were the only ones on the "lending floor" that dressed up, but we didn't care! (Notice Cassandra in the picture below?)

I don't have a lot of dress up memories from childhood. I'm pretty sure we weren't allowed to trick or treat... minus that one year that we had Mary and Joseph costumes for something from school/church, so I think they let us go out in those for a bit. Is that right, mom?

Will you be dressing up this year?

amelia

Gathering the Harvest... at Walmart

If there's one area I am inconsistent in (I'm sure there's way more than one), it's my meal planning. Some weeks, it looks like this: I sit down at the computer looking up recipes (saved or new), come up with a nice little list of Monday thru Sunday meals, make a list of ingredients needed, go to the store, and then try to somewhat stick to that schedule throughout the week. Other weeks, meaning most weeks, it looks like this: I go to the grocery store when I get a chance... especially a chance with only one or two kiddos. Sometimes I take suckers. I didn't learn that trick until a year or so ago, and it can really come in handy. I always have a growing grocery list, and I, like most of you, put it in the order of how I walk through the store. This comes in handy until you go to a different store... then it's just plain annoying. I stay stocked on all of our kid-friendly essentials and try to get the things to make a few good meals. The other nights, we're talking leftovers or quick fix things... and then we often throw a Little Caesar's $5 pizza night in there when it's a crazy day or a busy night. My hard-working hubby doesn't get home at a consistent time every night, so this has contributed to my lack of meal-planning. It's quite frustrating to make a dinner that the kids or may no eat, only to have the hubby call to say he's working late... and then by the time he gets home, he's not hungry anymore. Yay. And coupons... well, I have not conquered that skill at all. I have a great little organizer thing, and I have quite a few coupons in it. But do I use them?? Hardly. Someday I hope to get better at this. And if I had a dollar for every time I was at the grocery store with my children and someone said, "Boy, you sure have your hands full." Well, I'd have a lot of dollars... but I love it. I do have my hands full, and I'm so thankful... even for those moments where Ivy's yelling in the store and I have to hold her while pushing a heavy cart with two other children in it... even then, I am thankful... sweaty and looking like a disoriented, overwhelmed mess, but thankful.

amelia

Greater Tuna

So recently, Mary, Hillary, and I went to see Greater Tuna at the Flower Mound Performing Arts Theater. While I thought the two actors, who each played multiple characters, did a fantastic job, I can't say that I will be attending any other "Tuna" shows.

We had previously attended a couple of other performances at this particular theater, and we have always been very entertained. We've all heard about Greater Tuna, so we thought we would check it out. Well, if you're into announcements from the KKK and other racist comments, this will be right up your alley. I am not a fan. As we discussed after the show, this sort of humor will probably (and hopefully) begin dying down with our generation. The older white folks in the audience got a big kick out of it. And they get a big kick out of several other things that went right over our heads. Maybe we're just too young for Tuna?! Alas, something that doesn't make me feel old! We still had a fun time together... minus one inconveniently timed trip to the bathroom, but that's another story.

A few months ago, we were able to see A... My Name is Alice. This show was so much fun, and we all loved it. If you get a chance to see this one, I would definitely recommend it.

Do you have any shows or theaters to recommend?

amelia

What's Up, Big Perm?

Ten points to whoever knows what movie that title came from. :)

I can't believe I used to like my hair PERMED. I'm going with Beth on the whole 80's thing. Although, a lot of that is coming back already. Crazy! The tight rolled jeans were possibly the worst thing. Possibly. I would probably do the perm all over again, but maybe not the stacked, feathered, cement-sprayed bangs. Ick.

I kept trying to brainstorm on this today... all the things that came to mind were things I couldn't say I used to like, because I still kinda do.... or at least I totally get why I ever did like them. These things included: wearing green mascara (it brought out the color in my eyes, right?!), watching Blind Date, overalls, dressing up in random costumes and doing corny things... the list could go on and on, and I'm probably just a fad or a random urge away from doing any one of those again. Watch out!

One thought to leave you with. I also can't believe that I used to like thong underwear.

amelia

Bubbles

No, Bubbles wasn't a stripper. For some reason, it's the name I decided to give my first car. It was a 1987 Honda Accord, and I loved that car. If I remember correctly, the technical color of the car was "Champagne", so I'm pretty sure that's what led to the name Bubbles. I did not have this car, which was previously my Dad's car, until I was going into my sophomore year in college. That means that it was already 10 years old when I started driving it. Most of my high school driving experiences were done in my mom's awesome minivan. Although this wasn't an ideal ride for a high school student, I could always fit my friends in it, and it never hindered us from having fun! We, of course, had to call it the Party Wagon. One of the memories in that car that sticks out the most is when I was riding in the passenger seat as my brother was driving one day. He told me to watch out and then proceeded to spit a lugi over me and out my window. However, he didn't quite make it out the window. Instead, it attached just above the window and then just dangled. EWWWW!

Back to my girl, Bubbles. I think the previous owner smoked some sort of pipe or something, because that car had a sweet and distinct smell. And I liked it. The tint was bubbling, the paint was coming off in spots, and the sunroof leaked if the car wasn't parked on a downhill slope when it was raining. But she was a great car. After I graduated from college and actually had a steady and decent income, I purchased a newer version of the same car... but in red and with a spoiler. My dad still goes on about how ridiculous of a splurge that spoiler was. :) Or actually, I think it's the fact that I let on to salesman that a spoiler was a must. I think my dad saw that as dollar signs just flying right out of my mouth! When we sold Bubbles, she was 13 years old and had traveled over 200,000 miles. What a great car!

amelia

A Day in the Life

I decided to do my day in the life by video today. And by the end of the day, I don't have it in me to even watch it back or edit anything... Hopefully I didn't say anything I'll regret!! So here it is... totally unedited and choppy, just like my typical day. And a few things I left out... talked to my mom, Ashley, and Emily, did some laundry, dishes, went to the bathroom a couple of times, changed a few diapers... you know, the usual.

And an award should go to anyone who watches that entire thing. I really didn't think it would be this long when all was said and done!

Amelia

Serving

When I found out what we were writing about this week, I was like hmmm. I could tell you about how I do all of the laundry, wash all of the dishes, cook (or at least heat up!) all of the food, clean the house (sometimes), etc... I do believe all of those things are very important, apparently so important that nobody else who lives here even knows how those things are done! Amazing. But I won't bore you with all of that. I do have to say, though, that all of those things can be done with many different attitudes (trust me, I have many different ones), but when I have an attitude of service, it is a much more pleasant "job."

I believe we are all called to serve in some form or fashion. Right now, although I am able to do small things here and there, I do not have the ability to serve outside my home in a steady (i.e. weekly) commitment. I worked with the student ministry at our church shortly after I graduated from college (2000 or 2001-ish), and that was probably the most rewarding "service" I have ever done. That wasn't the reason for doing it, but it turned out to be a pretty awesome thing for me in return. I started out with a small group of eighth graders, and now they have almost all graduated from college. Although this fact makes me feel quite old, it brings me so much joy to see these girls walking with the Lord and still striving to grow in their walks with Him. I admire these incredible women so much. This group grew from four to plenty more over the years, and I was able to lead that group up until we moved to Oklahoma City in 2005, right around the time most of them graduated high school. I learned so much from them, and hopefully they learned something from me. I believe the Lord knew exactly what He was doing (He is God and all - duh.) when He put our group together. I am blessed to still be tight with many of these girls, and I love that all of these friendships are a result of me saying, "Sure, God. I'll try that if you want me to." I would love to be able to serve with high school students or even college students in the near future. I pray that the Lord will show me His timing in this, because I really do miss it.

Here's the original gang...

And a couple others. I have a big group picture that has EVERYBODY in it, but I couldn't find it on my backup drive to post it. So if you're reading this and don't see your picture, just know that you are special enough to be on the wall in my house. :)

And now for my random note: It has been brought to my attention that those who subscribe to our RSS feeds (I say that like I actually understand how that works!?!) and view the blog on their iphone cannot see the label to know who actually wrote the post. So, for Courtney (and maybe two other people), we will start signing our posts again. You're welcome. :)

Ameeeeeeeeelia

Buggin' Me

1. My Husband - As I sat down to type this, I asked my husband what he would say were the top 5 things that annoy me. And his first three responses began with, "When I..." So he came to the conclusion that he annoys me. And I suppose he does. But I love him and am so thankful for him!

2. The outside rim of the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup - This part is just completely unnecessary. Have you ever made a homemade Blizzard with these? You go to take a bite and all you get is a hunk of hard chocolate with NO peanut butter. Maybe it's plain chocolate that annoys me? So sometimes I will cut the outside edge off before using the cup... and this sends my husband into a ranting on my weird food ways (there are lots), and then that annoys me.

3. Sales Calls - And I will also include in this category the creditor calls for someone who apparently formerly had our phone number. This is SOOOO annoying.

4. Junk Mail

5. Watching a show with the commercials - The DVR has spoiled me, and I can hardly stand to watch a show without being able to hit the fast forward button during commercials. I'm impatient that way.

6. The noise of the windshield wipers when there's no water on the windshield - This one has bugged me for years.

7. When people spell my children's names incorrectly - I realize this is silly. But it bugs me. And so I'm letting you in on my silly secret.

8. People who drive in the fast lane and aren't going faster than the other lanes.

9. When people are so narrow minded that they think their way is the only "right" way - And don't worry, I'm not talking about anything that's black and white in Scripture.

10. When people don't take responsibility for their own actions - Just fess up and let's get past it already.

I know I was only supposed to do 5, but I pretty quickly came up with 10. I guess I'm annoyed about a lot of things! I can only list one thing I do that annoys people right now and that's me making my husband leave the lights on so I can finish this post. He really wants to turn them off to watch a show (on the DVR, thank goodness), so I will have to save my annoyances for another time. Plus, I probably need some time to think about that one.

Say CHEESE!

I've been snapping photos since I was posing my Cabbage Patch Kids for pictures with my 110 film camera way back in the day. I wish I could find that picture right now, because I wanted to add it to the post. I have always loved capturing moments, and photography is fun to me. I can't say that I have a passion for the technical aspects. I really wish that I did. My partially fried mommy brain really puts a damper on my knowledge retention, but I'm slowly learning more of the technical side... very slowly... and I am a work in progress. But what I do have a passion for is making someone smile when they see a photo I've taken. Whether it's their child, their pet, something funny, a memorable moment... I could go on. I love and prefer candid shots, but I have also come to appreciate the challenge of getting a good, posed family shot. Most of my friends that I have photographed have young children, so a good family shot is definitely a challenge. My love for photography grew a giant leap when I got my first digital camera. Holy cow - the freedom of taking as many pictures as you want and being able to delete them before they're printed!! And then my love grew another giant leap when I had my first child. And I have thousands upon thousands of photos to prove it. I've been working on backing up photos (twice, because I'm that paranoid), and let me just say that is yet another aspect of this that is not my passion. If only someone else could deal with all of that for me.... but if I were going to hire someone for something, I think I'd choose a maid first. :) If you're interested in photography, the best advice I can give you is to take in small tidbits of instruction/information at a time and practice, practice, practice immediately after doing so. You'll have so much fun!

I Make Me Laugh

Among the many things and people that make me laugh, I would have to include myself. It just seems like life would be a little bland if we weren't able to laugh at ourselves. Anywho... I've been looking around for something to put over our master bed. We have a big empty wall, and I just haven't felt the inspiration with anything I've seen thus far. However, I was looking in a shop last week and saw a sign that said, "Welcome Friends." I couldn't help but wonder what people would think as they were nonchalantly touring our home and then saw "Welcome Friends" right above our marriage bed. And then I got a good chuckle to myself thinking about what my dear hubby would think if he came and saw our new wall decor. :) I wish I had done it just for fun, but don't worry, I did not buy it. I ended up purchasing a blank canvas from the craft store, and that will surely lead to another laugh-at-myself moment!

Blessed Be Your Name

Do you have one (or more) of those songs that just take you back to a very specific time in your life? When I was pregnant with Aidan, I remember singing "Blessed Be Your Name" in church quite often. It must have come out around that time. Every time we would sing it, I would almost be brought to tears thinking about the precious boy growing inside me and trying to fathom the depth of the words I was saying. "You give and take away. You give and take away. My heart will choose to say, Lord, blessed be Your name." Would I really be able to bless His name if He allowed something to go wrong with that pregnancy? If something were to happen to that child? The song begins by talking about praising Him in times of abundance. Sure, it's easy in the good times. Or actually, maybe it's not. Maybe that's when we forget to give Him the glory because we're content and comfortable. "Every blessing you pour out, I'll turn back to praise. When the darkness closes in, Lord, still I will say... Blessed be the name of the Lord." Are you in a time where "streams of abundance flow?" Or are you "on the road marked with suffering" right now? I pray that we will be able to bless His name no matter what road we're each on right now. As I read through some of Walker Rainey's Caring Bridge site (Erica wrote about this yesterday), I am blown away at the faithfulness of his parents. What an amazing testimony. "Though there's pain in the offering, blessed be Your name."

If you have time, just take a few minutes to listen and let these words sink in.

A Letter to my 16-year-old Self

Dear Amelia,

-You really do have the best friends in the entire world. In fact, you'll still be this close to them when your age doubles. And you'll all be blogging together... blogging... you'll figure out what that is.

-Be careful what you do in silly pictures. All of them have the potential to end up on facebook one day. Facebook will be on the internet.... Hmmmm... not sure I can explain either of those, but you will see!

-Respect your parents. They really do know what they're talking about.

-No, you will not marry him.

-It's okay to not have a car. And when you eventually get a car, it will be okay that it's more than 10 years old.

-You may date three guys with the same name, but that does not mean you'll marry someone with that name.

-Be yourself. And let your self imitate Christ.

- Serve others.

-Give more.

-Enjoy life! Be spontaneous. You'll be an old married lady with three kids before long. And when you are, still have fun!

My Boring Testimony

Let me just start out by saying that I totally understand what people mean when they refer to their testimony as "boring," however, I completely disagree! There is absolutely nothing boring about the fact that Jesus Christ died for me and the fact that I get to experience complete freedom in Him.

My story, quite like my other gals pals, started with my Bible-believin', church-goin' family. My parents were very involved in the church, and it was very clear to me from an early age that they loved the Lord and that their relationship with Jesus was of high importance. I accepted Christ's gift of salvation at an early age and was baptized shortly thereafter. While attending a camp during junior high, the camp speaker was going on and on one night about how to know if you're really saved. He had a serious list, and a couple of things included knowing the exact date and place where this took place. Well, I have very little memory from anything before 6th grade, so there's no way I could tell you that information. But, I felt so convinced by this speaker that I had to know those things that I accepted Christ again. Did I need to do this? Nah, but I understand what the speaker was trying to stress in that you do need to know for sure that you have made this decision. It's not as simple as saying, "Yeah, I'm a Christian." when you're asked. I had made that decision, and then I (whether necessary or not) definitely reaffirmed it. I had a relationship with Jesus Christ.

The Lord has given me an incredible faith. Faith that is really hard to shake, and I am so thankful for that. I am definitely nowhere near perfect, but thankfully, the Lord has never allowed me to veer too far from His path. He has, however, taught me many lessons along my journey. Even though some of those were quite tough to learn, as the others have said, that's what makes me the woman I am today. I love that He is shaping me, molding me to be more like Him (hopefully He'll work on my thighs, because surely His aren't like this!) There is so much He is even teaching me now, and I love that I will always have new things to learn in my walk with Him. I have a very long way to go, but then God's redeeming love wouldn't be so great if we could be a "know-it-all" at the snap of a finger. Do you have a relationship with Him? If you do, is it growing? We all get "stuck" every now and then. If you need a hand, reach out, and any one of us would be glad to help you! The gift that we have been blessed with is too amazing and wonderful not to share it.

I Have to Pee on my Arm??!

I can't say that I will talk about my favorite vacation today, but I will talk about a very memorable one. To talk about my favorite, probably our honeymoon, I would have to go digging through my external hard drive to find photos. Actually, I don't know whether that would be my absolute favorite or not, but it was definitely the last time I had a kid-free, care-free vacation... and it was great. Another favorite would be our trips to Ouray and Lake City, Colorado. Amazing. We're hoping to get back there next summer, and I am really excited about that.

Now, I'm just going to give you a few highlights (or maybe lowlights) and pictures from our recent trip to the coast. And when I say coast, don't go picturing crystal clear water and white beaches. I'm talking Port Aransas, right on the Gulf of Mexico.

1. You do not go through the Padre Island National Seashore to get from Corpus Christi to Port Aransas. We pulled up to a guard office going into the National Seashore, and he told us how much it cost. I said, "We're heading to Port Aransas.", and with a big grin, he said, "No, you're not." We had to go back 15 miles or so to take our proper turn.

2. Just because seafood is near the gulf does not mean it's fresh from the gulf. I love, love, love seafood, but I have to say I was disappointed in our two seafood dinners while we were there. I even researched some places ahead of time. I'm pretty sure I ate some previously frozen shrimp, just like I've bought at the grocery store. Darn.

3. It is not fun to go to the bathroom in the beach porta-potty with three children. Actually, this event is not fun anywhere we go. But this was an extreme situation (For your benefit, I will not go into greater detail!), and it was definitely not fun.

4. Sand gets everywhere.

5. Only one of us had to pee on what we think was a jellyfish sting.

6. The Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Chrsti is lots of fun!

7. My children love to press elevator buttons. Every time we left the room, they would establish who would press the button on the outside and inside of the elevator, both for the trip down and the trip back up.

8. There's no place like home. As much fun as I had, it was so nice to get home and to sleep in my own bed. However, it was really nice to have someone wash towels and sheets and make breakfast for us. I could get used to that! Here's some of our fun pictures:

Me and the hubs

Look out Baywatch...

The dolphins at the Aquarium were tons of fun, and the shark was pretty awesome! Why are their eyes so crazy looking?? I think the otters were my favorite, though. They were so fun to watch!

At the Aquarium, there were three scuba divers in one tank trying to catch a wounded fish. Aidan is already fascinated by scuba divers, so he was really excited to watch them. I think he thought they were cooler than the shark, etc. One of them came right up to the window and posed for pictures and gave hi fives. The kids loved it!

The New Girl

Around the time that we decided this would be our topic for this week, I had been invited (along with every other woman in my neighborhood) to attend a Book/Bible Study. So that gave me the extra push to just go. I have met several ladies on my street, but I would not say I have become friends with anyone in my neighborhood to this point. My son is beginning kindergarten in August, and I have really been wanting to get to know some families who have boys around his age. Another reason I wanted to attend was to meet some other Christian women in my community. But there were several reasons not to go, the main one being the fact that I would not know a single person there. I thought it could be awkward.... and it was awkward, but only as long as I allowed myself to feel that way. I could tell right away that a lot of the women there already knew one another. We came in, got a name tag (There were around 20-25 women there, so I was really thankful for the name tags.), then we got a name tag on our back to play that really difficult game where you have to guess who you are by asking yes/no questions. Ah, icebreakers. And I'm even one of those "game people." Once I finally figured out I was Queen Latifah, we sat and went around telling a little information about ourselves. We're reading the book Girl Talk: Getting Past the Chitchat (A Modern Girl's Bible Study) by Jen Hatmaker. It's a really long title. She starts out talking about saggy boobs and swimsuit shopping, so we're off to a good start! I think there are some really neat women there, and I'm hoping to get to know some of them better. So I went the next week, and it was possibly even more awkward at first. Several people were already there, and there were already two groups of 2 or 3 ladies in the middle of conversations. Weird. Do I just stand here? Go sit down?? But nobody else is sitting yet, but nobody is acknowledging that I'm standing here so awkwardly either.... ahhhhhhhh!!! It all worked out fine. I'll probably just get there a little later next time. :) Anyway, I did it. I did something new, and it felt good... and weird. I think it has definitely been a good reminder for me to be more conscious of new people in group settings. I think our study is six weeks long, so I'll let you know how it all goes by the time all is said and done. Oh, and we've been invited to one of the leader's homes for dinner, so I'm making friends already. Bonus - she has a son starting kindergarten with mine!

All Because...

When we recently (over a year ago) moved into a new home, I had so many new walls that needed some sort of decor. I love decorating, but I am extremely picky. Lucky for me, my husband is also extremely picky, and sometimes that means making a decision on something to put in our home may take, well, a very long time. Don't get me started on how long it's taken us (ahem, him, but shhhhh!) to make a decision on tile for our currently-under-construction shower. But anyway. I love old family photos and had always wanted to have a wall to display them. I still don't have a wall for all kinds of random old photos, but what I do now have is a wall of photos of the couples who have gone before us. These photos include our parents, grandparents, and great grandparents, and this project got the stamp of approval from the hubs. I used wedding photos for all of the ones that I could, but those are pretty hard to come by. This is what you're greeted by in our entry way, and I just love it. The sign on top reads, "All because two people fell in love," and then our wedding photo is in the bottom corner. Just thought I would share with you. And if you have any decorating ideas, please share! I really need something over our bed. Any tips? I also probably need to get the ping pong table out of the formal living room, too, but oh well!

Fly High and Sweat

In the great Metroplex, there are so many fun things to do. I could probably use some fresh ideas myself, but one new thing we did recently was attend a birthday party at the Frontiers of Flight Museum near Love Field Airport.

They have a fantastic children's area. In fact, we never even made it to the portion of the museum for grown-ups. The children's area included the front portion of a REAL Southwest Airlines airplane. The kids were able to climb up into the plane, buckle in, pretend in the flight attendant area, etc. I think this was their favorite spot. There was also a huge bounce house, a slide, an air control tower. There was another airplane that seated 6 or 8 people, plus two pilots. They really enjoyed playing in that one as well. I had never heard of this museum, so surely there's someone else out there who didn't know about it! The party was great, and the kids were worn out by the time we left. I call that a success. Oh, they also had a small theatre of sorts where the children can push a button to start a Jay Jay the Jet Plane show. From what I saw, they really just enjoyed pushing the buttons more than actually sitting still and watching the movie. Surprise.

One more kid-friendly suggestion I have for you is going to the Dallas Arboretum in August. That's right, in the heat of the summer! We went last year, and they were having Dollar Days. Now I think the Arboretum is a spectacular place, but in my opinion, it's not worth the full price admission to drive all of the way over there with younger children. It's pretty pricy. But if they do that again during the month of August, I highly recommend it. The children especially enjoyed the log cabin area. They could have played and pretended there all day, and it's nice that they can play inside the cabins (in the shade)! I had my children and my niece and nephew with me, and they all (ages 1 to 11) loved it. I definitely hope to make another trip over there this summer.

I have to add this in. I just called to see if they would be offering that special this August, and they said they did not yet know. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Are there any fun things you have to share, wherever you are?

Happy Anniversary to Us!

We've been blogging for a year now, friends! And like Beth said, we're going to be doing some theme weeks, so watch out! And if you have any ideas on themes you would like to see us all write about, please comment with suggestions.

I'm going to take this recipe thing in just a slightly different direction. Not like from East to West type of thing, more like from East to just a little bit Northeast. Anyway... I know I am always trying to come up with fun ideas for my children's birthday parties. Last year, Aidan was turing five (I know, how is that even possible?!), and he told me he wanted a knight birthday party. Okay. So I did some thinking, internet searching, etc. and came up with some decent ideas. I'll start with the food, since that goes with our theme. We had the following:

For the cake, we used a 9x13 pan and then just cut part of the cake to make the shield shape.

We had Dragon Scales (Doritos) and Dragon Eggs (grapes).

Dragon Snot Punch - This was a huge hit with the kids. Simply mix lime sherbet with Sprite or 7-up.

Shield Cupcakes - For these shields, my mom (gotta give props!) melted chocolate into the shield shapes on wax paper, let that set, and then used melted white chocolate to drizzle the cross on the shield.

Princess Popcorn - Well, since we had some little princesses at this party along with all those husky knights, we had to do something in honor of the ladies. Actually, it's just the only way I could think to name the popcorn. This popcorn is so yummy and SO easy! I use the Orville Redenbacher Natural Popcorn and then white chocolate chips. You can use food coloring if you need to make it a specific color. I used a little red here to make the chocolate pink. I usually pop two bags and then melt somewhere between 1/4 to 1/2 cup white chocolate chips. I'm not super precise on this, which means Mary will never try this. She likes exact measurements. :) Follow the instructions on the bag of chips, because it's easy to burn them in the microwave... and that really stinks, especially when it's the last of the bag that you use. And you don't want to totally saturate the popcorn, or it will get mushy. I usually drizzle a light layer, then stir it around and drizzle again. Then I let it sit for a little while before serving it.

This has nothing to do with the food, but I made these flags to go along with our theme. Simple and cheap!

Happy Humpday!