Best Parts of My Week

We are in the middle of Kevin's loooong work stretch and to be honest we are both at our burn out points!  It's been exhausting trying to keep up, but we both keep encouraging each other throughout the day and are both offering lots of grace for all the the things that aren't getting done as quickly as we'd like.  With that being said, we have a lot we are looking forward to in the next few weeks and it's keeping us going! 

Fleas

In the 9 years I've had Harry, I can't remember ever giving him a bath. And Charlie's never had a bath either. Until this week!  Both cats somehow got fleas (not sure if they came from the dog or Charlie's frequent escapes outside).  I bought a highly recommended (and pricey) flea medicine (Advange II) and it worked a little bit but definitely didn't take care of the problem.  And I call it a problem because Austin ended up having two fleas on his back one morning after he woke up! Gross, I know.  The cats like to sleep in the kids beds, but this week they were banned from bedrooms.  I stripped all the beds, washed every ounce of bedding, and vacuumed the floors 1-2 times daily.  I can definitely tell the cats are feeling better and are scratching less.  Harry, unfortunately, has lost some fur over the last month and ended up with scabs from scratching... so he's still looking pretty rough!

Btw, the cats smell so so good and they are sooooo incredibly soft!  I can't stop smelling and petting them. True crazy cat lady story.  I told Kevin I may make this bath thing more frequent! Ha!
Oh and one more funny story... The cats were SO mad after their baths.  I don't think they recognized each other and I certainly don't think they were fans of their new smells because the cat hissing and growling was serious business for 24 hours!

**I can't remember if I posted this or not, but we purchased a new Dyson Cinetic big ball Animal & Allergy vacuum.  Our old Dyson was dying and not working well, but it gave us almost 9 years of clean floors, so I knew I wanted another!  The new one is even more amazing and I love vacuuming just to see how quickly I can fill the canister.  I know... Between smelling the cats and enjoying vacuuming, I'm a bit weird!

Finding Nemo

I let the kids pick a new movie on Apple TV.  They picked Finding Nemo.  Allie has been walking around all week calling everything "my squishy".  I'm sure they will want to see Finding Dory when it comes out!

Growing Pains 

Krissy, Allie, and Austin have been dealing with growing pains this week!  Literally every night this week I was woken up by someone's cries of leg pain.  The girls both woke up after Kevin had left for work, so I just had them lay in bed with me while I rubbed their hurting leg(s).  They'd end up falling back asleep and usually I'd fall back asleep while rubbing their leg!  

Art Smarts Camp

Our church hosts a summer camp called Art Smarts.  It's a week filled with teaching kids about Jesus through the arts.  My kids LOVE it!  I've assisted at the camp for probably 5 years now, but decided to step it up this year and teach!  I'm teaching a preschool cooking class.  I've been looking for perfect recipes the kids can help me make while focusing on our theme, "Taste and see that the Lord is good!"  My class will consist of 3-5 year olds and I'm lucky enough to have a 3 & 5 year old to practice recipes with!  

Baking

I wanted to perk myself up this week and thought I'd try one of the new recipes I've pinned lately..."the best yellow cupcakes from scratch".  Can't tell you how many of these recipes I've tried over the years, or why I continue to fall for the lie that they are the best, because it's just not true.  They weren't the best.  Not even close.  I'm not sure I'll ever find a cake recipe that is as light and airy and moist as a box mix!  These ended up in the trash shortly after I made them.  And I still have about a dozen more "best" recipes I want to try - so I'm sure I will.  Just need to remember to keep my expectations low!  However, I did make some great brownies, cookies, bread, and cinnamon rolls this week!

Treating the teachers and bus driver!

Chicken Hair Cut

Our little white chicken, Sunshine, was getting quite the poof!  I was reading about her breed and realized a lot of people trim the poof so the chickens can see better.  I had no idea I should be doing that, but I did notice she was always behind the others, slow to get treats, and slow to run away from other big chickens/the dog and it's because she can't see past that poof!

The next day she got a trim and she's thrilled about her new look!

(You can see her eye in this last picture, it's just closed!)

Potty Training

I have to end with a high!  Austin has done amazingly well potty training this week!!!  I knew we were going to be home all week and thought it was a perfect opportunity to work on his potty skills.  Our earlier attempts were unsuccessful because he wasn't interested in my tried and true methods! Ha!  (We always do no bottoms and a long Tshirt for a few days.  It's worked with the first 3 kids!)  When he gets out of the bathtub, he runs around naked screaming "naked party!" So you can imagine my dismay when he refused to go bottomless.  I compromised and let him wear undies but no pants.  Every time he's started to go, he's stopped and told me, so I haven't had to clean up any major accidents.  (I should note that while we are outside, he feels like it's perfectly acceptable to pee in the yard. That's happened twice so we definitely need to work on that!)  The first two days he was afraid to poop on the potty but the last couple days he's done great.  He's also been allowed to wear pants the last few days too :) We haven't left the house in undies but we may give that a shot tomorrow!

  

Let's Go Fly A Kite

 We've had a bit of unseasonably cool weather lately, and spent a lot of time at home.  About two weeks ago I spent $5 at Walmart on 4 cheap kites.  Who knew they'd provide hours of entertainment?! Sidenote:  The girls have been dressing themselves (on our days we stay home) so overlook their oddly put together outfits ;)

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Kid Sayings

I wish I had started these posts sooner because they make me smile!  I keep an ongoing post in the "notes" on my phone so I don't forget who said what. Here's the latest running list of things the kids said that made me smile and laugh!

3-5-16

I reminded Kevin to set his alarm before bed and Hayden said: "Does it wake you up?"

Me: "Yes, every time! and I'm all like (making funny faces and hand gestures) ah oh what's going on?"

Hayden: "Oh, I thought you were going to say it scared the crap out of you."

(And that's one of my go-to sayings and hearing him say it made me realize how bad that actually sounds!)

3-7-16

Watching The Voice

Hayden: "Mom, you should be on that."

Me: "Really?"

Hayden: "Yeah... You have a good voice!"

(Not true, but thank you son!)

3-12-16

I had been remaking Allies Easter dress, and also cleaning up a paint mess Austin made (which I ended up getting paint all over the sweatshirt I was wearing and I didn't even bother to change clothes) and to top it off my iron died.  I ran to my moms house to borrow hers and when I got home all the kids were asking where I'd been.

Me: "I had to go to Mimi's house and get her iron."

Hayden: "Like that??"

Me: "Yea! No one even saw me!"

3-28-16

I was working on a pie and looking for all my kitchen tools I needed when I hear...

Austin: "Mmmm I like it!"

I turn around to see him licking my spatula...

Me: "Oh honey! Oh on! Don't eat that!"

Austin: "I like tatos!"

Me: "Honey that's called crisco, not potatoes."

Austin smiling really big: "I like it!"

4-16-16

Krissy dramatically telling me about her teacher at church, "My teacher couldn't walk or do anything! Her legs were hurt! She had toilet paper on her leg!" Toilet paper=ace bandage.

4-16-16

Allie and Hayden having a conversation about me...

Allie: "Her name use to be Haley when she was little."

Hayden: "That's still her name."

Allie: "..............."

Me: "What's my name now Allie?"

Allie: "Mommy!"

4-26-16

Me: "I'm everyones mom!"

Allie: "Not everyones!"

Me: "Well Hayden's, Allies, Krissys, and Austins mom!"

Krissy: "and daddy's mom!"

5-?-2016

Austin meowing...

Me: "Oh my little kitty!"

Austin meowing more, and more...

Krissy yelling at  Austin: "YOU ARE A HUMAN!" 

(Krissy likes to tweet and pretend to be a little birdy so I reminded her of that!)

5-15-16

Austin:  "I got green car!"

Me:  "Yes you do!  What color is my robe?"  

Austin:  "Ummm... Cute"

Happy Anniversary

My parents are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary today!

Friday morning, I went to their house while my dad was mowing.  I was being vague and just told dad I was looking for some pictures.  I went through photo albums and snapped pictures on my phone of them throughout the 40 years they've been married.  I came home, put them in a flipagram, added some music, and voila!  I didn't show it to them right away though.  We took them to one of our favorite family restaurants, Log Inn, for dinner to celebrate that evening.  After dinner and dessert I texted them the link to the video.  They both told me how fun it was to look back at all the pictures and see how they've changed over the years.  

Mom & Dad,

I'm so thankful for your example of marriage.  Growing up, I never worried about you splitting up, and I appreciate that gift of stability in my life.  Having been married 9 years now, I understand the highs and lows that come along with the package of being married.  How neat is it that you've endured all the good and bad and shared 40 years of life together?  Watching us kids grow, get married, then have babies... I can't think of anything more rewarding in life!   

I hope this next chapter of your life is filled with tons of: good memories, good health, retirement, vacations, get-a-ways to Christmas Lake, and enjoying your empty nest together :) Thank you for being my parents!  I love you!

Haley 

(I made them stop on the way home from dinner Friday night for a couple pictures.) 

Best Parts of My Week

Just a few, quick highlights from the past week!  

My sourdough starter is so alive! I've never seen it grow quite like this after a feeding!  I stuck it in the corner of my counter before church and was shocked to come home to this mess.  But I'm also thrilled :)

I tried a new icing for Hayden's birthday cake.  It's 100% different from my go-to "American buttercream" recipe and I think I love it even more!  Only downside is I have one hater... My husband.  He says it's too creamy.  Can an icing really be too creamy?  I have pondered a big cupcake testing event to get some feedback from lots of people. And it's also has my wheels spinning about baking as a business again. 

Krissy has been so anxious to help me in the kitchen with anything I'm doing!  Dishes, baking, decorating cookies/cakes.  I usually let her play with extra dough and cut out things with cookie cutters, or lick spatulas... 

I painted our front door! It's one of the several projects that was on my outdoor to do list.  It use to be the same brown color as my shutters.  I'm really happy with it!! The color is called Mystic Sea from Lowes.

I had to go to Boonville to pay our taxes this week and I couldn't not stop in at the Goodwill.  I walked out with a nice haul for myself! 4 new dresses, 3 shirts, and a pair of capris.  I also found Kevin 2 pairs of shorts and a polo, and several things for the kids!  This pink top Krissy is wearing is one I found for her!  Allie has been dying for a robe since I got mine on Mothers Day, and I found the cutest one in her size!

I spent many hours this week booking a flight/car/condo for a little get away Kevin and I are taking.  We text each other daily with a countdown, and all our conversations revolve around how excited we are for a vacation together!  I know I'll miss the kids, probably even more than I can imagine right now, but they will be in the best hands and I'm going to do my best to enjoy this time Kevin and I get together.

Hayden's teachers contacted me this week about making some star cookies for the class today.  They were very complimentary of the ones I made them for teacher appreciation week and I thought it was so sweet they asked me to do this.  I happily agreed and spent a few hours making them yesterday.  The theme was Hollywood Red Carpet.  The kids are dressing up and being presented with an award for being a publish author. BTW, the cute book his class made was given to the moms last Friday.  

Homemade Strawberry Butter

Updated 8/9/16

I love flavored butters.  That cinnamon butter from Texas Roadhouse, the Strawberry butter from Patti's.... they are the highlights when I eat at those restaurants!  This recipe for strawberry butter is super simple!  If you're a bread lover like myself, you'll enjoy this!  It's just a couple ingredients + a few minutes!

(Warm sourdough bread and strawberry butter!)

You'll need:
2 sticks of butter at room temp (I usually use salted, but unsalted is great too)
4-5 fresh strawberries
1 C powdered sugar
1/8 heaping C honey

In a mixer, beat the butter 2-3 minutes until really light and fluffy.  While the butter is mixing, wash and mash your strawberries.  Next, mix in the powdered sugar and beat for 1 minute.  Add the mashed strawberries to the butter and mix another 2 minutes.  The butter turns the prettiest shade of pink :)  Last, add the honey and let it mix 2 more minutes.

I used this wooden tool from Pampered Chef, but you could use anything!

A pretty pink, whipped butter!

We keep ours refrigerated, but it's best when softened!  I'm thinking I may make some end of the year teachers gifts of homemade bread and flavored butter! 
(p.s.  If you don't have a stand mixer and don't have the patience to mix that long with a hand held mixer, you can cut the mix times down and just mix until incorporated.  The most important one is the first step of whipping the butter!)

Hayden's Birthday/Mother's Day Weekend

{#LongPostAlert!} As I predicted, it was a busy weekend for us!  We had a fantastic couple of days with only a few hiccups. 

Saturday was spent grocery shopping, meal planning/prepping, cake baking, house cleaning and present wrapping.  Hayden & Kevin also took a morning fishing trip to their favorite spot, but were back by lunch time.  We went to church as usual that evening and got to watch the girls (along with the other preschool aged kids) sing a song in big church.  When Kevin was taking Austin to his nursery class, he fell and busted his lip back open {Side story:  Yes, back open.... he took a fall outside on Friday.  I was inside taking a speedy shower, but I locked all the kids inside and turned on the tv.  When I got out, Austin was coming inside crying; so no one knows what happened, but he took a bad tumble!  He had a scraped chin, a busted lip, a hole in his tongue from where he bit it [that was bleeding a ton], a goose egg on his head, and a bloody knee.  The poor kid is the most accident prone child I've ever known}.  He was shaken up about the blood, which quickly stopped, and when we left him, he was crying.  I told Kevin it was no biggy and he'd be fine once we left.  But he wasn't :(  So, Austin came to big church with us.  Hayden had asked before church if he could come too, so we had the whole family (talking parents, siblings, grandparents and family friends) in the front row!  

Can you spot the girls?  Allie was totally in to it, but Krissy was accidentally knocked down on the way up the stairs and she didn't ever quite recover.  It was pitiful watching her try not to cry.

We went to dinner at Chick Fil A with our big group of people.  The kids ate well, and we had cookies and icedream for dessert.  I was anxious to get home and get the kids to bed so I could start working on food.  When I was tucking Hayden in, he asked who all was coming to his party. I told him his grandparents would be there.  And then he said with big watery eyes, trying not to blink, "So no kids are coming?"  I explained that since it was Mother's Day tomorrow a lot of people made plans and wouldn't be able to come; but assured him we'd have the best day ever. 

Sunday morning I was awaken at 5:29 by a very anxious little birthday boy.  This was the first year he's actually woken up early in anticipation for his birthday.  I asked him if he could lay back down until 6:30, and he said yes.  He came back in my room at 6am and told me it was 12 o'clock - and said it with a tone of "what am I waiting for? It's time to get out of bed!".  So Kevin went to get breakfast and run a couple errands for me while I was slowly making my way out of bed.  5 hours of sleep wasn't enough for this momma!  Kevin hung a mother's day gift for me on our mantle before he left (a pretty, cozy pink robe embroidered with "Mom" on the chest of it and he left a small jewelry box in the pocked of the robe).  I opened the little jewelry box and found a pretty heart locket with all the kids names engraved on it.  It also held 4 pictures!  Such a perfect gift for me.

I told Hayden he'd need to wait for everyone to wake up before he tore into his gifts (that's just what we always do).  I was in the kitchen working on food for his party, and out comes 2 grumpy little girls that weren't thrilled to be woken up at 6:30am.  Then came Austin.  Hayden said, "Now can I?".   I said he could open one, but had to wait for Dad to get home before he opened the other 2 that were from us.

He loved his mini red locker that locks!

Kevin offered to get breakfast anywhere Hayden wanted, and he picked Donut Bank.

 A new spin-cast fishing pole.

He also got a telescope.

We all spent some time Sunday morning getting the house cleaned up and ready for our early party.  When the grandma's arrived at our house, we gave them their Mother's Day gifts from us (chocolates for both, a giftcard for one and deer antlers for the other), and they both were sweet and got a little something for me too (my favorite chocolate covered strawberries and a giftcard to TJ Maxx!) 

They were all gone by dinner time!

I had decided to make a brunch and have everyone come at 10:30.  I made hash brown casserole, ham/egg/cheese casserole, sourdough cinnamon rolls, mini breakfast sandwiches, and fruit salad.

Hash brown casserole + ham/egg/cheese casserole

My rolls got huge and they were delicious!  The favorite dish though was breakfast sandwiches!

We had leftover donuts from breakfast that everyone bypassed and fruit salad.

Hayden is into Minecraft, so we bought some figurines and used some he already had to decorate his cake.

Hayden snacked a lot that morning and didn't eat much of his brunch.

  On to gifts and cake....

Walkie-Talkies

Minecraft figures

Personalized fishing tackle

He wanted to put all his birthday candles in his cake.

Little brother wanted to help blow them out :)

After brunch, presents, and cake, we spent some time sitting out in the back yard, watching the kids play and the chickens run.  By 2 o'clock it was just our family, we laid Austin down for his nap, and Kevin decided to work on the kids play house.

I don't think climbing a tree with a little saw to cut off limbs is the safest thing! :-X

When it was closer to dinner time, Kevin told me to pick what I wanted for dinner, and I picked Cheddars.  I told him I knew my mom was home alone and I was going to ask her to come with us.  It didn't take much convincing that she didn't need to sit home alone on Mother's Day, and we ended up having a great dinner (but Krissy slept through the whole thing). 

We wrapped up Hayden's birthday celebration with making little snack bags for his class!  We scooped vanilla and chocolate icing into little cups, added sprinkles on top, and added animal crackers in for dipping!  They were loved by the class according to Hayden :)