#617 - cutting down a tree

Our big tree died, so we had to cut it down before it fell on our house.  Oster and Parker loved watching it fall!!!

Happy Friday!

#616 - Waiting for Superman

Have you seen Waiting for Superman?  It's about how our school systems in America are failing the kids.   After seeing this, I think we really need to rethink tenure and teachers' unions.

For the most part, I had some pretty good teachers in school (elementary, middle school, high school).

I do remember one teacher who did not teach us anything and didn't really care because he had tenure...what a waste of my time and his.  They need to pay teachers more, but they also need to get rid of the bad ones.

Have you seen this movie?  What did you think?  I highly recommend it.

#615 - triple lemon blueberry cake

I used this Triple Lemon cake recipe for Oster's birthday.

Lemon cake + lemon curd filling + lemon cream cheese frosting = triple lemon.

He wanted a Batman cake (see below) and I was craving lemons and blueberries, so it worked out perfectly.

 I added blueberries to the cake batter...so good!

And like usual, I was running behind and didn't get a chance to let the cake cool before I frosted it, so it was a gooey mess.  (this picture was taken after Oster blew out the sparkler candles, so those black specs are from the sparklers)  (And I had grand illusions of making a black fondant or blackberry fruit leather batman logo, but no time!)

My favorite part was the lemon curd (martha stewart's recipe) filling.  I could eat that by the bowl!

#614 - new blog header

 

1st blog header - Oct 2008-Mar 2009 - Oster & Pepe playing chess

 

2nd blog header - Mar 2009-May 2009 - Oster's eyes

3rd blog header - May 2009-Aug 2010 - mini cupcakes from Oster's 1st birthday

  4th blog header - Aug 2010-July 2011 - Parker's cute legs

 latest blog header - i wanted to put tons of pictures, so it looked like a million things, but 45 pictures seemed like the right amount.  my dream is that you could scroll over the pictures and they would pop up and you could click to the picture you like . . . someday

#613 - birthday card

I just got this birthday card in the mail from my grandma!  Love it and it works for any birthday!

card is from Prune Orchard Press

#612 - only thing better than butter

I'm still trying to finish remodeling my kitchen, but in the meantime, I thought I'd share my favorite (food) quote that I recently put up in out kitchen.  It is right above my toaster and blender where 99% of our butter gets used.

The wall behind it used to be fake white brick wallpaper,  but I painted it with black chalkboard paint and added these vinyl letters.

I'll probably change it around, but in the meantime, I love looking at my favorite quote.  Maybe some day I'll make a print of it with brown/yellow colors (think toast and butter, not the other way those colors go together)...

And seriously, the only thing better than butter is more butter!  Sounds like a Paula Dean quote, but it's actually from my cousin Peter (although, I don't know if he remembers saying it.)  It's also a quote from a bakery in Chicago.

#611 - handfuls of popsicles

 

We made homemade popsicles and the boys can't get enough of them.

Mango Pineapple Popsicles

1 champagne mango - these are the best mangos out there

1/2 cup of pineapple pieces

1/2 cup whole milk

(you can add more or less of what you like)

Blend in the blender and pour into popsicle molds to freeze.

Strawberry Blueberry Popsicles

6-7 strawberries

1/2 cup blueberries

1/2 cup whole milk

(you can add more or less of what you like)

Blend in the blender and pour into popsicle molds to freeze.

Enjoy!  Happy Monday!

#610 - few of my favorites on pinterest

I have a couch like this I got of craigslist a few years ago and it would be so cool to do a couch redo like this.

 I want to redo the back of our medicine cabinet  to look like this.

I have a chair just like this, just need to figure out what color to paint it?  I like white, black, red, navy blue and yellow or basically any of these colors.

Pepe just got 8 pairs of glasses from Zenni Optical for the price of one pair of glasses.  I just need to figure out a cool glasses holder like this.

I think I want something where the glasses are horizontal on the wall, not vertical though.

YUM! crisp coconut and chocolate pie

kit kat cake - my sister totally made this with white kit kats and it looked so cool!

#609 - Niagara Falls

Been busy around here...just got back from Niagara Falls.  Have you been?  It's one of the wonder's of the world (#1 in North America).  I also just noticed that I've been to 4 of the North American wonders. (Niagara Falls, Yellowstone, Redwoods, Arenal Volcano).

I recommend going to the Canadian side if you can...way nicer and 10 times more stuff to do/see than on the US side.

#608 - Happy 4th!

 

Hope you have a wonderful 4th of July!

 

Top photo is our new chalkboard wall in the kitchen (still not sure how I feel about it) with my weak attempt to make our Christmas wreath a 4th of July wreath.

Bottom photo is Oster holding up an American flag craft we did in church yesterday.

#607 - half the year is almost over

Yep, today at noon we mark the first half of the year being over.  Where did it go!!!

Here's the good news, I was looking through our new years resolutions last night as I was finishing up our Christmas 2010 mini book (yep, little late on that one) and we have most our goals accomplished.

Oster - potty train - DONE - thanks to my mom and dad

Parker - learn to walk - DONE

Pepe - no fast food - I think he went for the first 2 months w/o fast food - pretty good, and he's better about staying away from it.

Me - make our house a home - getting there - kitchen is almost done - this was a HUGE project for me

Me - lose 30 lbs (ugh the baby weight) - lost 18 so far

I have some new goals for the 2nd half of the year that I'll share with you later today.

Happy Half Year!!!


ice cream pic by me...i LOVE ice cream! - doesn't help with that one "lose weight" goal