Sprouts!

Some time ago Handsome put a raised garden box in the back yard.  It is raised for two reasons.  One, it is easier to weed, and two I can train Four Legs to stay out of it.  Once the dirt was in it was fairly easy to sit outside all day and remind Four Legs to stay out of it.  After the first couple reminders he did pretty well. 

Though it did take nearly a week of catching him about once a day to get him completely trained.  After Four Legs was ok with staying out of the garden, we planted.

 Not much, just a few things that we like to eat.  Beans, lettuce, and zuchinni.  Amazingly, even with the near constant rain we have had, there has been just enough sun to allow our garden to begin to grow. 

Thankfully we don't need to replant this year due to our seeds drowning.  As we watched in fascination each little green shoot break free of the soil and sprout leaves, I thought of something. 

There really isn't a much uglier plant then a bean plant.

The Official Beginning of Summer

Ring around the rosy

Pocket full of Posies

Ashes, ashes

We all fall down

Cows in the Meadow

Eating buttercups,

Thunder!  Lightening!

We all stand up!

And then lay down again.

Adventure on the High Seas

Today was more or less our little family's official beginning of summer.  Handsome somehow convinced me that a boat would be a good asset to have.  So a while ago, we found a nice small boat that would fit our family perfectly (at least until we have teenagers).

So it being a lovely day, we set out.  With our cooler full of peanut butter and honey sandwiches, boat on the trailer, life vests, and fishing paraphernalia.  We were off!  To get to the lake where we wanted to go fishing was a beautiful drive.  The typical country road with few houses, lots of trees, and glimpses of the snow capped mountains through the gaps. 

The sun was out sending lovely shadows onto the road, and making it very hard to see the pot-holes.  We got to the lake all in one piece and set out on our adventure.  Everyone buckled into their vests with poles in hand.  The motor we were using was an electric motor and was virtually silent.  Having a quiet motor was wonderful!  We could hear the birds calling to each other, the splashes of fish jumping, and the slap-slap of the little waves against the sides of the boat.

Oh it was beautiful.  Sunny enough to keep us warm and breezy enough to keep us cool.  I was first at the tiller as we cruised Handsome prepped two very excited kiddos fishing poles for trolling.  Having done most of the prep here at home, all that was really needed was to tie the hook on and add a weight to the line.  Mr O and Peaches were nearly bouncing out of the boat with excitement.  Away went the first line, then the second, both with spinners, hooks, and weights attached. 

Mr O, being who he is, thought that every little bob of the end of his pole meant that he had a fish on the line.  I think he may have spent more time looking at his hook then it spent in the water.  Peaches was a little more patient.  She would let it be for a while, and then bring it up to look.  Each time either one had their hook up they would announce (as if we didn't already know) that they didn't have a fish.  On and on it went, all of us totally enjoying the time together, listening and just being together.  Suddenly, when Peaches was almost done with sandwich #2, her pole tried to dive off the boat.  Oh!  Oh my goodness!  What do I do? 

She tried to grab the pole with her hand still full of sandwich, it didn't work.  Hurredly dropping the last few bites into the bottom of the boat, she grabbed the pole and began to bring in the line.  Thrashing about on the hook was a nice little trout, about 10 inches long.  Peaches was grinning ear to ear.  Handsome was grinning pretty big too.  After removing the hook, the little guy was released back into the lake.  The rush of excitement over, both kids decided they were done and it was time to go back.  Days like this are wonderful.  To be oft repeated.

Some of the Craziness

One of the several reasons that I have been not quite so good about posting lately is that a close friend and I organized an event at our elementary school.  Like any typical event, there was food, lots of people, and a big mess to clean up afterwards.  This event was a little different in a couple ways.  It was quite large, needing to accommodate roughly 500 people.  So we went about planning.  We had been given a few tips from the lady that organized this event the past couple of years, and so we went from there.  The Spring Carnival. 
We started with the basics, determining what games to have.  Deciding those we moved on to the next step, the prizes.  An online order guaranteed the prizes would be delivered in plenty of time for the big day.  On to food and other activities.  There was pizza, soda, chips, candy, water, cotton candy, snow cones, and popcorn to eat.  A Pie Eating Contest, Cake Walk, Face Painting, Pony Rides, and Inflatable Rides rounded out our Carnival nicely.  Back to the games.  We decided on a few old favorites, and a couple new ones that became instant favorites.  You all know what a dunk tank is, right?  Well, think of that shrunk down to hold a large rubber duck instead of a person. 

That is one of the new games we introduced: Dunk-A-Duck, where you win a small rubber duck if you dunk the duck.  Another new one was bowling.  Typical, and easy with bumpers instead of gutters.  But the contestant only got one shot at getting a strike, not two.  We also had Pop-A-Balloon, Ring Toss, Basket Ball, Ping-Pong Toss, and a Button Maker in lieu of an art table.  So, with all this going on, my friend and I clearly had some last minute organizing to do.  It was totally insane, but also a lot of fun.  We learned a lot about what might work better for next year and some things that worked perfect and were very popular.  So, now back to normally scheduled (or unscheduled) life.  Yay!

Once Upon a Time

There was an old truck.  When I was introduced to it, it was old.  Older than dirt, as the saying goes.  Well, this old truck helped us move several times, was our vehicle for a little while, helped other people move, and in general was one of those good old trucks that just keeps going.  Well, it won't be going anymore.  It met a few trees, and some dirt, and won't be bouncing back like it has before. 

We are very very thankful for the way this truck was built.  Because even after rolling over and over and taking out a few large trees, the people riding inside were completely unharmed.  They walked away (and called Mom).  So there you have it.  The good old truck is no more.  This morning I will lift my cup of milk in toast to that good old truck. 

My New Alarm Clock

I love when I wake up (or in my case I'm totally awake, but refuse to get up until a certain time) and I come downstairs to my kids playing the piano. 

Really, the double rendition of Twinkle Twinkle was a little bit off.  Not all the notes were correct, and the song was fast in some parts and very very slow in others.  But all in all, it really did sound like Twinkle Twinkle. 

And That is why I have a piano.  To help Mr O and Peaches learn fun things like that.  Absolutely Wonderful.

For all the Fathers, uncles, grandpas, god-fathers

And any other man who has a positive role in a child's life.  Thanks for being there! 

Happy Father's Day!

Finding Zen

This past week has been absolutly crazy, more on that later.  So I had to take a break from it all and find a little inner peace.  You all know that I love to decorate cakes.  So I went online, found a fun photo of a ship, and replicated as close as I could with the colors that I have (I really need to purchase a black and a silver).  This was the final result.  There are a few things I could have done better or differently, but I only had 2 hours to work with, and fondant dries out fast.  I had so much fun!  It really was a needed break from all the craziness.  Yay for fondant and chocolate!

This was my wonderful neighbor's first attempt at working with fondant.  I think she did a fantastic job!

The Red Phone Keeps Ringing, Jones!

Throughout life I feel that I have learned at least a couple of things.  While growing up I wore dresses daily to school.  This was just our family's dress code.  It was fine.  I didn't mind.  I felt like a princess each and every day.  Getting to twirl and swoosh and always be the one chosen to be Rapunzel was fun.  As time happened the dress code changed as well.  But I learned something from that.  I am me, no matter what I am wearing, or who judges me.  I am Me.  For years I was shy.  Not willing to meet new people.  Hating my nose (yup, it's still long and skinny).  Wishing I could be like everyone else out there.  But then again, if I were to be someone else how would I know how to act?  I only knew how to be me, so being someone else just would be weird.  I had the typical teenage drama of wanting to fit in to different cliques, wanting this, wanting that.  Hanging out with the art people most of the time was fun.  But I also fit in most other places too.  I flitted on the fringes of most of the groups at school, trying to fit in, and at the same time trying to be invisible.  Finding myself wasn't working.  Until I got sick.  Now I am fortunate to be one of the few who never really gets sick.  Yes the sore throats, coughing, sneezing, fevers, etc happen to me, but they never seem to keep me down for more than a few days (until recently).  Even strep throat only took me out for one day.  But this time I was down.  For a week I did nothing but sleep and drink juice.  I remember nothing of that time.  When I was finally well enough to return to school I went.  Pale, weaker, and still not fully recovered, I insisted on going to school.  I slept through 3 classes that day, none of the teachers said anything.  But what really got to me was seeing other people between classes.  People that I didn't know, from every clique/group at school.  They would stop me and say that they missed my bounciness, missed me saying hello, or just my smile that was just for them. 

I found my niche.

From then on I have never tried to be a part of any one group.  Yes I help several different groups and wish I could help more.  But really, I'm not the star.  I'm not the governor, or the opera singer, or the great artist.  I'm not a leader.  I'm the support team.  I'm the one in the background saying how good it looks, how great you are, and how glad I am that you can do it. 

Because I am truly happy that you can.  I'm happy to support, so that you can keep on keeping on. 

I'm a good support team. 

And I like being the support team.

A Good Tasting Challenge

 So, Handsome asked for a chocolate birthday cake.  Nothing really different, no shapes, no crazy icing decorations, just chocolate cake with chocolate icing.  So I set to work.  I'm not sure if I have shared before, but I now have a new cake pan.  One that is 3 inches deep rather than the typical 1 1/2 inches deep of the cake pans that you can get at pretty much any grocery store.

Armed with this cake pan I set out to make Handsome's cake.  Now as you may know, chocolate is quite dense.  Which is why it is difficult to get anything made with chocolate to rise more than about 2 inches.  But I was determined to make that cake.  So I set to work with my classic chocolate cake recipe, one that has been in the family for awhile now.  That did the typical rise of 1 1/2 inches, not high enough.  I altered the recipe a smidgen, still a no-go.  I tried taking aspects from two different recipes and making the cake that way.  Still not a crumb over 1 1/2 inches.  At this point I was wondering if this was going to work or not.  I was also eating way too much chocolate cake.  But really, what was I supposed to do with all the failures? 

So I asked myself, was it really possible to make a 7 inch chocolate cake (counting frosting), with only two layers?  I decided I would give it one more try.  Combining three different recipes, a lot of patience, and a lot of love, I made it!  The first layer came out without any problems.  Beautiful!  Standing in at just under 3 inches.  WooHoo!  Now for the next layer.  I did it again! 

This one was even poofier, at just over 3 inches!  Once they cooled I trimmed the top off of one to make it completely flat, and tried a new icing technique called Ganache (pronounced Ga-naush).  Oooooh, now that just upped the rich chocolate of this cake.  MmmmHmmm!  I kept licking my fingers and needing to wash my hands while I put the frosting on.  Once it was all done: TaDa!  A lovely cake! 

And yes, that is a two layer chocolate cake that is standing just over 6 inches tall.  A poofy chocolate cake!

Giggles

This is what happens when I hand off my camera.  Whoever I hand it off to tends to turn the lens on me.  For a very very long time I've been uncomfortable with what I look like.  I find that I am very much like nearly every other female out there in that I have a hard time finding beauty in my own appearance.  But when I give my camera to others, and I am looking through the photos, I'm forced to see through their eyes. 

I can't say that I love my looks, but I'm getting much more comfortable with them.  I'm learning to be who I am.  No matter what.  I'm not going to change, at least not drastically.  So I need to be ok with who I am and what I look like.  Others taking photos of me has really helped my outlook.  I see what they see.  And it may not be beautiful, but I am me.  And I'm happy to be Me.

Very Important Day

Yesterday was a Very Important Day.  It was Handsome's birthday.  He took the day off work and stayed home.  After taking the kids to school, we packed up the boat and some lunch, and floated the river.  It was a lovely day to be on the water.  There were just enough clouds to make it comfortably shady.  Beautiful.  We even got to see a pair of eagles who were standing guard over their nest.  Even though the river was moving us along pretty fast, Handsome was still able to get some fishing in with his birthday present from the kids.

After coming home and unpacking, we needed to get the kids.  And lay in the hammock.  And eat pizza and watch Mythbusters.  And eat chocolate cake. 

And snuggle in Daddy's new fuzzy blanket while watching more Mythbusters.

Target Practice

This post is for the redneck in all of us.  I never knew how much fun it was to shoot a gun until my husband (boyfriend at the time) introduced me to it.  

I never thought that I would enjoy shooting as much as I do. 

Or that I would be as good of a shot as I am. 

See that target?  That was my first clip (of 7), all in the target.  Woot!  Having now had experiance shooting several different guns, I can safely say that it is tons of fun! 

I enjoy going shooting with my hunny though! 

And that is one hot date! 

I'm here.  Really.  Life just has this habit of happening.  And I just don't seem to have the oomph to spare to post lately, sorry.  Hopefully I'll post more another day.  Life is crazy.  Cheers!