Peaceful

Is there anything more precious than a sleeping baby? .  .  .



Not in this house :)

 

Dance Like Everyone Is Watchin' . . . And Stuff.

 

Alright, y'all, before I just dive in, I've got a question, but it's not for the faint of heart.  It's a . . . spider question.  Ugh, I almost can't even say the word without cringing.  I am a big fat baby when it comes to spiders {or most creepy crawlies, really}.  So, if you feel the way I do about spiders, you are not going to want to scroll any further, okay?  I'm giving you fair warning to stop reading now.  

 

 

Alright here we go . . . .

 

 

 

Ew, ew, ew, ew!

 

 

 

 

 

Are you ready?



You can cover your eyes if you want to.  I've got one hand covering, and one hand typing.  I won't judge.



So.  Tell me . . . what kind of spider is living in the overhang above my front door?  Seriously, this thing is huge!  EWWWWWWWWW!  Okay, now that I've gotten that out of my system.  Should I be worried?  Is he a man-eating spider, you think?

ICK!

 

 

 

Whew!  Now that I've gotten that out of my system . . . .

Dance classes started this week. I just love this time of year, when hot summer days turn to cool crisp evenings. Football games, dance classes, apple cider, and donuts. Ahhh, Fall.  Love, love.

 

 

We've got Sissy's class on Monday nights . . .

 

 

Kam's class on Tuesday mornings . . .

 

 

And Kenners' class on Wednesday nights.

 

I don't love all of the driving, but I ADORE spending 2 1/2 hours a week watching my girls dance their little hearts out! 

 

 

Just one more. . .  My little princess. 
Anyone know how I can keep these girls little forever? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wordless Wednesday ~ Berry Pickin'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Fall Photos

A couple of days ago we got dressed up, and headed outdoors to take a few snaps . . .
 

 

 I'm pretty sure it's about 400 million times harder to take photos of one's own children.

 

 
Between blinking, screeching, running, and funny faces . . .

We only came out with a handful of salvageable ones ;) 
I'm still in shock that I managed one or two with all four looking in my general direction! 

 

 

 We'll try again soon.

So.  Lay it on me . . . what do you do to get your littles to cooperate for photographs?  Bribery?  I'm all ears.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All I Ever Do Is Play Catch Up

 This blog post was originally supposed to be a Ten on Ten {yes, a week ago}, but my camera cord died {sniffle}, meaning I couldn't upload my pictures to my laptop.  So I borrowed my dad's card readers, {all four of them}, and couldn't get any of them to work with my camera.  I was beginning to think my card was the problem, but I got my new cord in the mail yesterday, and it's working beautifully.

Anyramble.

So now I'm even farther behind than I was before . . . the story of my life.

Oh well.

So.  No ten on ten.

Instead.  Catch up.  Because that's what I do best.

♥ It has been gorgeous here.  Eighty degrees, sunshine, just perfect.  It makes me so happy.  The last couple of years we've had an obscene amount of rain and cool weather, so I am completely happy with all of the sunshine.  It makes me appreciate the cool Fall weather that will inevitably be visiting soon.

♥ Jerm has been hunting for nearly a week, which means LOTS of extra girl time around here.  Movie-watchin', slumber partyin', treat bakin'.  So much fun!  But we miss our boy.

Oh, and by the way, this:



Is what happens when boys leave to go hunting.




Chocolate, Butterscotch, and Caramel Pancakes {with whipped cream}.
 Could this be contributing to my weight gain???


♥ We sold my car.  I am car-less.  Actually, I'm not.  My MIL is letting us borrow one of hers until we find another.  But . . . strange to be semi-without vehicle.

♥ Kam cried and cried when she found out it wasn't coming home {the car, that is}.  Miss Kam . . . we're two peas in a pod, she and I.  Opinionated?  Check.  A little sassy?  Check. Likes to talk and talk {and talk}?  Check.  Biggest emotional mess ever?  Check. Check. Double check.

♥  I've been trying to have more one on one time with each of my girls.  Tay and I, obviously, have plenty, as I nurse her to sleep for naps and bedtime, and we co-sleep.  I lay down with Kam until she falls asleep at night too, and I try to make time for stories and games, just the two of us.  And while Kenners and Sierra stay up with me on the nights that Jeremy is gone, sometimes I feel like one or the other of those two needs a little extra time with Mama.  Recently Kenners has gotten to go along with me on a couple of errands, so Thursday it was Sierra's turn.  We went and had breakfast, just the two of us, and then stopped by Joanns on the way home.  Talk about a perfect morning!

♥  Ooooh!  Bible update!  So.  I made a New Year's resolution {in 2011!} to read through the entire Bible.  Let's just say that with house building, financing, and adding another baby to our family, I didn't quite finish.  But I vowed to finish in 2012, and I'm on track.  I finished the Old Testament several weeks ago, and have just started 1 Corinthians.  Yay!

♥ And finally ~ I took a few Fall photos of the girls a couple days ago.  Oh.my.goodness.  By the time I picked out coordinating outfits, brushed and fixed their hair, found a spot outside, and got the camera ready . . . Miss Tay was so over it, Kam would rather have been playing in the sandbox, and Kenners was having a watery eye problem.  Sierra was seriously the only one who was havin' any of it.  Do you know how hard it is to get four of your OWN children to look at the camera at the same time {with eyes open, mouths closed, and no screaming?}?  Yeah.  It's a challenge.  Let's just say it ended with someone swinging a stick around, flinging dirt RIGHT SMACK DAB into someone else's eye. 

 There were tears and screams.
And hugs and smooches.
 And eye drops. 
And bedtime.
And no more pictures.
 

 

Fall Baking

 

 

Who is ready for some Fall baking? 
I love this time of year, as the leaves start changing, and the weather turns cool.  It makes me want to head straight for the kitchen!

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

I have an abundance of blackberries these days, and I love anything cookies or bars . . .

It was pretty much a match made in heaven.

Do you have more berries than you know what to do with?  These bars would be great with blueberries or raspberries too!

You'll Need:

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup quick cooking oats
1 cup butter
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 cups fresh blackberries
1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch

Then:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, and grease a 9×13 inch pan.
2. In a medium bowl, combine granulated and light brown sugars, cinnamon, flour, oats, baking powder, and salt. Cut in butter and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of the dough into the pan.
3. In another bowl, stir together sugar and cornstarch. Gently mix in the blackberries. Sprinkle the blackberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 45-55 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. Cool before cutting into squares {if you can wait that long}.
 

And then you'll want to grab some whipped cream . . . and devour them.  That's what I did.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Day

 

Excuse me, WHERE DID SUMMER GO??????

 

I can't believe it's back to school time already.  It snuck right up on me!

 

It snuck up on the girls, too, I think, because they were a little bummed to say goodbye to our carefree summer days.

 

Not to worry, though, we had a great first day. 

 

Complete with first day pictures . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 And this is all I'm going to say about getting back into the routine . . . 

I am soooooo much more efficient in my head when I'm planning out all of the things to accomplish for the day, than I am in reality.  Bummer.
 

 

Wordless Wednesday ~ Summer Sunset

 





 

 

 

Happy

Okay, we need some happy around here.

 

 

 

And I can't think of too many things happier than . . .

 

 

 

time spent with cousins.