Category Archives: family

Happy Easter!

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I hope everyone had a fantastic Easter! 
We had a fantastic day with our families. The weather was gorgeous {90* here in SC today!}. We got to stuff ourselves not once, but two times today. Our house is overflowing with candy {which my kids WILL share with me} thanks to the Easter Bunny and grandparents!
Here’s a few from our day. . .
A visit from the Easter Bunny:

Little Man #2, Parker Reese
Little Man #1, Jackson
Easter egg hunt:

Playing. . .

In the fountain after church.

Catch at Uncle Jay and Aunt Ilke’s house.
Watch out, this is one bad a#$ dude! Parker Reese on his new ride.
I hope your day was as fantastic as ours!

I’m Ba-ack!

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Hello friends! Were you starting to wonder if I stayed in Arizona? It’s been awhile! 
First I want to send out a huge thank you to my sister-in-law, Ilke, for hooking me up with a guest post! If you missed it, please be sure to check out her Raspberry Coffee Cake here and be sure to take a little detour to her site, Ilke’s Kitchen, as well. 
Now, I know you are all dying to hear about my trip. And believe me, I have SO much to share with you. But, I got in really, really late last night. 
So, if you don’t mind, just for today, I am enjoying this. . . 

It was a nice break, but I missed my boys like crazy!

I’m also enjoying this. . .

{No, I don’t have a pet pig.}
I’m talking about sleep. The three-hour time difference wiped me out!

And I can’t believe I’m about to say it, but I even missed this. . .
Humidity! 
I’ve never been a fan of humidity until visiting Arizona! Today I’m embracing it!
{How ironic/hysterical is it that I found this pic from Arizone Foothills Mag?}

But I’ll be back tomorrow with a full report of my amazing experience at Creative Estates. 
Until then. . .

Photos that aren’t mine:

Special Day, Start to Finish

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Making Valentine’s Day special. . .
I wanted the boys’ Valentine’s Day to be special from beginning to end. So I started off surprising them with a special place setting for our Valentine’s Day breakfast. 

I got these adorable Valentine’s plates after Valentine’s Day on clearance years ago. Each plate has a different  picture on it. I was excited to finally put them to use! They each got a Valentine’s mailbox filled with goodies.

Which of course they loved!
Check out this Villaware waffle maker we got as a wedding gift. Perfect for a Valentine’s Day breakfast!
Heart-shaped waffles with whipped cream and cherries on top because they are Little Man #1′s favorite!
Little Man #2 didn’t seem to mind either. He did not get use the pretty Valentine’s Day plates. Too risky to let this wild man have anything breakable!
Daddy surprised us by taking us to lunch and taking the rest of the day off! We played outisde at the park in the beautiful Carolina weather! 70 degrees!
And for dinner. . . 
Fondue!

Fondue is very quickly becoming a Valentine’s Day tradition in our house. Here we have filet mignon and rib-eye pieces along with a mustard and curry sauces. The sauces are a “recipe” I got from a friend. It’s all done by taste so I don’t have measurements to give you. However, you can find similar sauce recipes here.
A nice salad and roasted red potatoes accompany the fondue for our Valentine’s Day dinner.
And for the adults, a really nice Pinot Noir!
And because it’s a special day, the little guy got chocolate milk in a special glass with a special straw. 
And to finish off this yummy Valentine’s Day dinner, our cake balls and chocolate dipped strawberries for dessert!
I hope your Valentine’s Day was as special as ours!

Baby, It’s Cold Outside, Again!

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This past weekend reminded me why I LOVE living in the South – the weather! And I really needed that reminder because winter this year in SC has been brutal! Now those of you reading that live up North or in the Midwest are probably laughing at my whining, but us folks from South Cackalacky aren’t used to winters like this! So anyway, this past weekend was gorgeous! Saturday was in the low 60s and I think Sunday it may have reached 70! All I can say is that after being stuck indoors because of cold, rain, and snow, we spent the weekend outdoors!
So we took the boys to a very special place on Saturday. This is the Anne Springs Close Dairy Barn. 
The Dairy Barn is a special place for us because hubby and I got married here! It’s only a few minutes from our house and we love visiting here and walking the grounds. It was the perfect way to spend a Saturday with our little family.

My sweet little men, Parker Reese and Jackson.

Little man #2 and me. It was the first time in awhile that they got to RUN!
See the devilish grin? He’s up to something – all the time! He’s probably plotting to jump (well crawl under, rather) the fence and hop on a horse!

 Early in the day, Jackson found a tennis ball (and a very long stick that is not pictured). He carried it (and the stick) around the whole day!
Handsome hubby had the camera most of the day, but I did manage to get a few photos of him! Notice the sunshine! It was awesome! Hooray for Vitamin D! Oh yeah, and there is Jackson’s other treasure, the stick!

We had so much fun!
And then it was time to head back. 
Sunday after church we spent the entire afternoon outdoors, kids playing and adults sitting in tailgate chairs in the middle of the cul -de-sac with the best neighbors on the planet. And since we had all been stuck indoors for weeks, we (and the kids) had a lot of catching up to do! 
It was such a fabulous weekend! And then we woke up this morning and it was cold and cloudy again. I don’t think it got much above 40*!! BRRRRRRRRRRRR! Baby, it’s cold outside, again!

Happy Birthday John! (aka daddy, aka hubby)

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You’re a Rock Star Daddy! 
Hubby plays the guitar and it was Jackson’s idea to make him a guitar rock star cake.  Nothing fancy, just a personalized cake that we can say 
WE MADE!
Little man # 1 (Jackson) LOVES to help me in the kitchen. 
Check it out:
 Making daddy’s cake last year

Making Christmas cookies in 2008
Christmas cookies in 2009.                                           Christmas cookies in 2010.
This kid LOVES to bake!
Notice that Little Man #2, Parker Reese, isn’t in any of these photos. Baking? Not so much. Breaking? Yes!
But really I think he enjoys helping me so he can do this. . .
I mean really, who doesn’t like to like the bowl, spoon, etc?
To make this very simple double-layer guitar cake:

(plus a box of cake mix)

We used a box (Yes, a box. I don’t not bake cakes from scratch) of Betty Crocker Devil’s food. I used 2 round cake pans lined with foil for easy removal. 
After cooling the cakes (in the pans) on a wire rack, I lifted the cakes out by holding the foil. The foil will peel easily away from the cake. Again, store-bought icing. Place pieces of wax paper under the cake so the cake plate stays clean. Using my
Jackson and I spread chocolate frosting on the top of the first cake.  Place the second cake on top (you may need to trim cake to make it flat) and frost the top and sides and then remove the wax paper. 
Now you can decorate it however you like! We drew the guitar using canned cupcake icing and some tubes of icing I had in the cabinet. Jackson wanted to add sprinkles and of course the candles. I bought the #3 and #2 only Because both my boys can use them for their birthdays this year. Cool!

Happy birthday John! Hope you like your cake!

Leaving Behind 2010

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Hard to believe it’s 2011! I’m still trying to figure out where 2010 went! Why is it that the older we get, the faster time seems to fly by? Here is a glimpse of some of my favorite memories of 2010. Ejoy!
January
 Little Man # 1 celebrates his 2nd birthday!
 
Jackson was soooo excited about his Island of Sodor cake. So was mommy! It was my first attempt at making a “special” cake. I copied it from here.
February
It snowed!


 We don’t get it much here in SC, but when we do, everyone heads outside early because it will be gone once the afternoon sun hits it!
 March
Little Man #1 discovered drums.
 

Little Man #2 discovered sweet potatoes!
April
The weather is getting nice, let’s get outside!
  
    

Easter




May
Time to Pick Strawberries!

It sure is hard to fill your basket when the boys just pick and eat!

June
Happy Father’s Day!


July
My amazing visit to Chicago


My bestie Melly showed me an amazing weekend in the Windy City, except there wasn’t any wind there in July. It was HOT! But it was one of the best weekends of my entire life!
Summer at the beach.
 
Parker Reese’s first trip to the beach – Isle of Palms, SC.

 

Edisto Island 
August
Parker Reese gets his first haircut!



Jackson gets his very own drum set!

Jackson’s reward for being fully potty-trained! I think mom and dad need a reward too!



September
 Jackson’s first day of 2-year-old preschool.



Little Man #2 celebrates his 1st birthday!

Parker Reese had a Sock Monkey birthday cake that was YUMMY!



October
Pumpkins!


Halloween!
 

November
Visiting family in Black Mountain, NC!

The little men and their cousins. Isabella, Jackson, Parker Reese & Olivia.

Riding the trike – together!



December
Ready for bed! Santa is coming!



LM #2 is thrilled he got a big boy booster!

 LM #1 got some fancy drum sticks!



The best part of 2010?
A White Christmas!

Well this is actually the day after Christmas. BUT, it snowed, here in SC, late Christmas day! And then it stuck the whole next day and the day after that!

All Year Long

These kids crack me up!

  

Looking back at these photos made me a little teary-eyed because of how much and how quickly my boys have grown. However, I love the new year because along with it comes the feeling of a new beginning. Whether the past year was the best of your life or one you just don’t want to remember, January is a fresh start. It a time for making resolutions (whether we keep them or not, it feels good to say we will “try”), setting goals, and (at least for me), getting organized. 
Happy New Year from our house to yours!

Well, at least mommy and daddy are happy!