cam ham...

Hopefully, I'm gonna get back to blogging on a regular basis soon...now that I'm finally willing to admit that Summer break is really over.  I have lots of things to post about our busy and fun time off.  But...tonight I ran across some pictures that I took of Eli right before his birthday in July.  I decided to set up an in-home photo shoot in hopes of getting a good picture for his invitation.  Boy, was I pleasantly surprised. E was quite a ham during the "shoot" and I just think these are too cute not to share...

 And....the winner for the invite...

take me to the river...

now that Summer's here, I'm thrilled to have more time to spend with E and hanging outdoors.  One of the things that I hope most for E is that he'll always appreciate the beauty of God's creation and be able to just sit back and enjoy it.  We did that this weekend with his first tubing trip down the river.  It had been a long time since I had been and I loved every minute...E enjoyed the calm parts and was a little spooked by some of the rapids.  I have a feeling this was the first of many trips, though.

After our cruise down the river, we hung out at the Blue Ridge BBQ Fest for the rest of the day.  It's always a fun time of good food, music, crafts, and rides for E.

egg'd out...

after a weekend full of buying, dying, deviling, hiding, hunting, and eating them, I've had my fair share of eggs for a while.  It was a really happy Easter this year, though.  We've spent lots of time with good friends and family over the last couple of days which has been really nice.  I really wanted to write more of an update on things tonight, but I'm exhausted.  So exhausted, in fact, that I still haven't packed one thing for our trip to the shore tomorrow.  I'm already on beach time, I guess ;-)  Anyway...I hope all of you are doing well and had a very blessed Easter weekend!

 E was quite a ham before church this morning...

Too bad our only family pic was taken after we had an egg-hunt in the most damp air possible, thus, my terrible hair-do :-)

birthday, anyone?

'cause I'm looking for another excuse to make my new addiction favorite treat.  Eli's teachers do a really cool thing and celebrate the summer birthdays in their class throughout the school year.  Maybe you all are familiar with this, but we're new to the whole preschool scene and I just thought it was such a neat idea.  Anyway....E celebrated his birthday with his class this past Wednesday and we were asked to bring a treat to share.  After browsing Pinterest a bit, I discovered "birthday cake popcorn".  And let me tell you...it is so yummy...and so easy....and cheap...and well-liked by adults and kids alike...and something fun that you and your kids can do together...and....ok...I think I'm getting a little carried away ;-)  Thought I'd pass along my new favorite recipe...enjoy!

what you'll need...

from left to right, top to bottom...

1~  pop popcorn and spread out to get rid of un-popped kernels

2~  melt 8 oz. candy-coating (my recipe called for white chocolate, I used almond bark)

3~  mix in 4 heaping tablespoons of cake batter (recipe called for yellow mix, but I used the funfetti mix) until smooth.  Combine candy-coating and batter mixture with popcorn in a large bowl.

4~  add lots of colorful sprinkles (some recipes I found added mini m&ms, etc.)

5~  separate and form popcorn in desired shapes

The recipes I found showed the final product in clusters or balls for serving.  I wanted to do something a little more fun so I thought of using ice cream cones.  It takes a little bit of patience to get the popcorn piled nicely, but I think the finished product was worth it!  Then, we just used some fun cellophane bags for easy tote and to keep them fresh!

painting fun...

just looked at my last blog post...it's been over a month since then and I can't believe it.  Time is going by too fast...it's simply got to slow down.  Or, maybe I should slow down.  I know that my neck and back are definitely telling me that lately.  Let's see....since my last post, we have celebrated a great, white Christmas in Iowa, shared two other special "Christmases" with family here in NC, and I had lots of fun bringing in the New Year with family in Asheville for a couple of days.  Other than that, we've been working and enjoying the new toys Santa delivered.  Santa was quite a spoiler this year, bringing a sandbox and a full-size trampoline to our house.  I think E has been pleasantly surprised by how much Jesse and I want to jump with him...I forgot how fun it is!  Jesse, on the other hand, enjoys terrifying me by bouncing me too high and then laughing at my squeals.  It's quite a sight for our neighbors, I'm sure.  One of E's Christmas presents from his Aunt Angie was a wooden car kit.  He and I played body shop and enjoyed some painting fun last night...

six sweet somethings...

wow...posting six sweet somethings for each week has turned out to be an even harder task than I thought.  I'm hoping once the Christmas season has passed and we're finally able to keep our household well, it'll be a bit easier.  Since my last post, I was sick for several days and now Eli is sick.  Besides that, though, we have had a lot of good stuff going on.  The lights are on here in McA, we've had fun Christmas parties to attend, and I celebrated a wonderful birthday this week.  I'm still blown away by how much everyone in my path that day made it so special.  It was the best birthday I've had in while.  Here are several "sweets" from the past several weeks...

From left to right, top to bottom...

1...E's visit with Santa last week

2...First Christmas program at school...don't know that I've ever been more proud :-)

3...Mrs. Karen and I partied hard with the Cubbies for our birthday

4...The Nester Sale with Julie

5...PWC basketball jerseys make great capes for Daddy fans

6...E met the dentist...maybe I was just as proud then ;-) 

the bucket list...

I don't have an official written bucket list, but I have several things in mind that I really hope to do before I die.  I've realized over the last couple of days that a few of the smaller things on my list revolve around this season of the year.  For one...I want to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in person, and two...I want to do an all-night Black Friday shopping trip just once.  I don't want to go with something in mind that I have to get.  I'd just like to go grab a corner bench somewhere, sip on some hot coffee and watch the madness.  I've decided that I'll check this one off of the list when I won't stay busy playing with E the next day.  I might be a bit too tired for that.  Anyway....I happily checked one thing off of my bucket list this weekend.  On Friday, Jesse, E and I headed to Boone for a night in the hills and a fresh cut tree.  Yep...I've always wanted to pick and cut a Christmas tree from a tree farm.  And... it was just as fun as I always thought it would be.  There's just something special about picking out trees with red noses and frozen hands...this girl's really hoping it becomes a tradition ;-)