Weekend Whoas!

We had a busy weekend and as usual it went by too fast.  When I called Tyler on my way to pick up the boys on Friday evening I could tell he was frustrated with a few malfunctions at the farm --- imagine that, sounds like he'll be working late.  Ugh, not again, he worked late all week.  So, I knew the only way we could get to see him was to take him dinner.  Our little neighbor girl came over right as we were loading up to head to the farm so we asked her to come along.  

We made the best out a bad situation and ended up having a fun evening.  We ate Sonic on the tailgate, went riding on the Ranger and watered cattle.  It was a perfect evening and I was glad we got to brighten Tyler’s evening.  However, the only picture I managed to take was while waiting at Sonic…Keeler had to buckle up this doggy. 

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On Saturday, I watched our friend Grace while her mom was busy working on their house.  We went to the park and played at home.  In the evening we got ready for the local Bull Bash.  

It was our first time to take the kids to a rodeo-type event.  Keeler had a blast.  We ended up sitting by one of his cowboy friends from school.

I couldn't tell you if anyone rode a bull.  I was entertained with these two.  

Seriously, I just love having little cowboys!  

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 Sunday, we woke up and the weather had changed dramatically.  It was cold and cloudy.  We went to church and then retreated to the house for a nice family day

Baby proofing  has become necessary!  We got the baby gate installed at the top of the stairs.  Kallahan is on the move!  We turn our heads for a minute and this little cowboy is off.  His favorite place to go is on the tile to look out the windows.

 Keeler got a haircut - by mommy.  It's not perfect but hey, it's free. 

Then he crashed!  We must have kept him too busy.  He fell asleep at 5pm and slept all night long.  

Sweet.

It's been a very sweet weekend.

Literally.

And times a million.

It all began with Spiderman cupcakes for the cutest little nephew a girl could have!

It was a bit of a novelty to make such boyish cupcakes.

Plus I love making cupcakes and decorating with brightly colored buttercream icing.

It pretty much makes my day.

(And I try my very best to not think about how much food coloring it took to obtain that Spiderman red.)

Also, the next time you pipe icing try this little trick.

It's made my life so much easier.

Since I ice so many cupcakes and all...

And then there was this beast.

Pretty much the craziest baking project I've ever been a part of.

Essentially 6 cakes and 3 pies.

Yes, the pies are cooked inside the cakes.

My sister-in-law asked me to participate in the creation of this cherpumple for her fiance's birthday.

(Although this one was a cherpecple since the pumpkin pie was substituted for pecan.)

My layer was the chocolate cake with cherry pie one.

I'm still in awe....

A Message From Ryan

Bathroom Grapefruit

Natural house cleaners.

I could have cared less about them before I had children.

And then I had my sweet little babes who I'd do anything to protect.

And far too often I find myself running into stuff like this...

Now I'm on a mission to rid our home of pretty much every possible chemical that could interfere with their precious developement.

(Funny, isn't it, how kids change your view of pretty much everything??)

But....

It has to work!

A chemical free house is good and all but I'd like a clean house, too, please!

So I've already told you about how I've changed our laundry cleaners.

Would you like to hear how I've recently begun to clean our shower?

You're super excited.

I can just tell!

:)

It's a pretty simple solution:

Grapefruit and salt!

Halve you grapefruit.

Sprinkle kosher salt on it and the bottom of your tub.

Scrub away all the grime with that salty citrus.

Easy as pie!

Grapefruit pie...

It even does a real number on those fixtures, too!

Then simply rinse away all the pulp with a wet sponge and youve got yourself one chemical free clean tub.

And a delightful smelling bathroom!

My only issue with this method is going to be 1- remembering to buy grapefruit and 2 - not eating it instead of cleaning my shower with it!

Do you clean your bathroom with natural cleaners?

Any tips to share?



"I Feel Pretty"

I usually wake up looking like this each morning (and for the days that I take the time to clean myself up, I usually end up looking like this again by the early afternoon):

Una and Fruit

This is the story that Piper came up with and took pictures of for the illustrations.

This was for our 'row' of The Little Bunny last week.

This is all her own work.

I simply wrote down what she dictated to me.

Without further ado...

Una & Fruit

by Piper

There was a blue pig named Una.



There was a horse named Fruit.

The fairies were nice to them and didn't eat them.

 

This horsey was nice to Una and Fruit.

His name was Peois.

(pronounced P-E-O-is)

The fairies, Una, Fruit and Peois had a dance.

 

Then they fell asleep.

 

 

When they woke up they climbed to the top of the castle.

They could see everyone from up there!

More people and animals came to live at the castle.

There were 13 living at the castle.

Then a funny cow came along.

They all laughed.

The End.

I had her story made into a book at the Walmart photo center and surprised her with it tonight.

She was pretty excited about having a book she created all on her own!

In fact, I tried to find it tonight to take a closer picture of but Matt informed me she took it to bed with her!

Family Pictures

My best friend Sabra, of Sabra Turner Designs, recently took our family pictures.  Most of you saw a sneak peak on facebook but I wanted to share again.  Plus, there are a few more on the cd that I think are pretty cute.  She is so talented!

My little cowboys are at such a fun age I am so glad that I will have these pictures to look back at someday.  I am truly blessed beyond belief.   

Photography c/o:  Sabra Turner Designs

Today my heart is aching for the Canahuati family.  I stumbled across an article on Saturday about a sweet 5 month old baby girl that was diagnosed with SMA, an incurable genetic disease.  The article lead me to a blog that her father had started about a month ago.  It’s called “Avery’s Bucket List.”  They wanted to see how many things the infant could experience in her short little life, her doctor said that she would probably not live past 18 months.   The blog chronicles many different things that she has experienced, like her first kiss, trip to college, etc… Yesterday, she went to meet Jesus.  Her parents are asking for awareness to be brought to SMA.  Please take time to look at their blog.

“A human life is a story told by God.” - Hans Christian Andersen