We're messy — vote for us!

I've entered the Get Messy Contest hoping to win a new kitchen or at least some great Mrs. Meyer's products. You can help by voting every day between now and April 18. Normally I shy away from these type of popularity contests but I think we have a good chance of winning. Look at that face! You know you want to vote for him. Pretty please?

Vote here!

Back story: We were making donuts. Joseph loves to make donuts. And eat donuts. Most recent batch turned out more like warm beignets so I sprinkled them with powered sugar. Soooo good. 

Goodbye box

Do you remember this box? It came into the living room in January after a neighbor took delivery of some large furniture. After eight months it was starting to fall down and wasn't played with as much. It was time for it to go. Several times I told the boys the box was going to go and there were small protests or I would think in my head, it's time, and then come in the room to find Joseph playing in it. For it was Joseph's box — he claimed it and didn't really want to share with brother. So if Will played with it, he was usually doing so with Joseph and not on his own. Will did try to sleep in it overnight a couple of times. Attempts that were quickly abandoned because hey, that floor is hard!

It was a jail, a helicopter, a hospital, a snuggle spot — it stretched the imagination! Which is why I let it "clutter" the living room for so long. Our house is not big and the box made it even smaller. After seeing how much fun the boys had with it, I think it was me who was having a tough time letting it go.  Because when they came home one day in September to a much larger-looking living room, they paused for a second and moved on.

The box was moved to the backyard where it lasted for a few more days. Then moved to the curb for recycling. But the memories will remain hopefully for the boys but definitely for me ... I'm going to go now before I get too weepy about watching their childhood pass, that it's going too fast. 

Goodbye box.

Final days -- the paper taped on front told
a story at one time. Inside it had become
 a storage spot for more boxes and stuffed
animals while stuff accumulated on top. 

Snuggle time with Baby Bunny.

Friends loved the box too. 

Cooking and a battle? Yeah, I think that's what's going on in this picture.

File under why not? Candy corn pancakes

Everyone is talking about apples. No really — everyone. Julia's Bookbag, Design Mom, SouleMama to name a few. So much so that I could't take it any longer and made praline apple bread yesterday. I subbed cream cheese for the sour cream which was okay but not life changing so not planning on doing that again (picture and recipe if you follow the link. I promise it is delicious and even more so if you have the right ingredients on hand). I thought about taking a new picture of the apple bread (mostly because I forgot I already had) but too late now because it's gone. 

But I did take a picture of the candy corn pancakes I made last weekend. When Joseph was three, he woke up everyday asking for candy. EVERY DAY. I am not kidding. It was infuriating because dude, in what world do you think you will get candy for breakfast? You're lucky you get your Lucky Charms. (Which, those days are numbered. Tried of him only eating the marshmallows. Come on, that leaves hardly any for me!) 

He's stopped asking every morning for candy but man, last weekend he was really, really wanting the candy corn sitting on the counter next to the chocolate chips waiting their turn to melt into yummy pancakes. So I thought, let's make a candy corn pancake. That should satisfy the demanding tyrant at my elbow. HA, yeah right. Joseph was not going to try it. But I did. And surprisingly, it was not bad. The candy melts just enough that it tastes like the syrup is in the pancake instead of drizzled on top. 

Here's what I did — First, I did not mix the candy corn into the pancake batter. I laid out of few candy pieces on the griddle and then spooned batter on top. I know, easy. So easy that I'm sure I am not the first person to make these. 

Would I make them again? Actually, the answer is yes. A nice treat for Halloween morning or just any fall morning. What do you think? Would you try them?

School's out for summer!

Splash pad at Birmingham Zoo

Once again, it's time to make a list for summertime fun. We've got eight weeks until school bells ring again. Eight long weeks filled with whining unless we keep our days somewhat structured. I'd much rather a year-round school schedule at this point, c'est la vie.

So far we've been to the lake for Memorial Day, the pool for swim lessons, enjoyed a week of Vacation Bible School (it was Will's 5th but Joseph's first time!) and read the first two Harry Potter books.

Things that got to be done are 1. Will needs to learn how to tie his shoes 2. and ride his bike. 3. Get both boys to the dentist 4. and the hairdresser 5. Mr. Shoes needs to visit the vet for a little snip. 6. summer reading book reports for the soon-to-be 2nd grader 7. de-clutter house and backyard.

We'll head to Memphis to 7. visit my family. Other possible road trips I'd love to make — 8. Anniston for its Museum of Natural History, 9. Atlanta for friends and IKEA and Fernbank and Aquarium, 10. Huntsville for family and U.S. Space and Rocket Center. And the beach, I really want 11. to go to the beach! It's been too long.

Closer to home we've enjoyed one Birmingham Barons game but 12. I'd like go to at least one more 13. make ice cream and popsicles 14. Splash in Turkey Creek 15. bowling 16. skating rink 17. big cookout with the neighbors 18. free movies all over the place 19. summer reading programs at the local libraries 20. pool, pool and more pool!

Inspired by Melissa at Julia's Bookbag, I asked the boys what they would like to do this summer. Joseph saw the splash pad picture and wants to go back to the zoo for the water and a train ride. He was just telling daddy tonight that if you ride the train, you can see all the animals. Will's list was a little bit longer. He wants to ...

eat at Chick-fil-A
play legos
summer reading camp at local library
go fishing
have a sleepover
stay up all night
throw a party
visit Splash Adventure water park

I think we can make some of that happen. What about you, how's summer looking?

The not-a-box disco party box

It feels like it's been raining forever! At least every day this week and last. The only thing that has saved my sanity is THE BOX. I spied the box at a neighbor's house. Seems they got a delivery. We're all tight on my street so I immediately asked for the box, dragged box to my house, barely got it through the door and then rejoiced in the peace and quiet the box brought to my house. Not so much the quiet because jailers and prisoners can be rather loud when an escape attempt is ongoing. The day after I got the box is when it started raining and raining and raining. (Good Lord, when will it stop?!) Which is sad because I had dragged the second big box to the backyard for more fun and it's now a sad pile of damp cardboard. 

Now when I first spied the box, all kind of ideas ran through my head. Ideas that I had pinned just waiting for the opportunity to show up on the curb. Should I make a playhouse? A reading nook? 

Holly/Life as a Thrifter

Come on, isn't this amazing?!! What a lovely little house. My hats off to this mom for all the love she put into making it. Wallpaper! A mirror! But before my fantasies ran away from me, I stepped away from the craft supplies and decided to just let my boys decide where the play led. So the box is unchanged expect for some markers and a barred window in the back for the prisoners. EXCEPT for the Christmas lights which hey, they were still plugged up so not too hard to add them to the box. I got the idea here. It's fun listening to the boys and their friends play or for us all to pile in to read books. 

To be honest, while I love the occasional rainy day best spent reading in bed, these days of damp are starting to get to me. We're promised some sun on Friday but that's after a chance of snow Thursday. Which at my house, will more likely just be more rain. Time for an inspirational quote: 

Download your own copy at Addicted2Decorating

Acorns everywhere!

Not that I didn't have enough to do — house is a mess with dishes and laundry piled high, my new part-time job working the nursery at Joseph's school, woefully behind on the 2012 St. Rose yearbook — I decided to have a booth at the Art in Avondale Park fall festival. It's a crazy idea. So crazy that I enlisted a partner in crime because I wasn't sure I would have enough stuff . 

The festival itself is great. The main goal is to get kids creating. Lots of hands-on activities and music — just a good community spirit. It will be a good place for my first booth. Very out-of-the-box for me and I'm feeling a tad nervous. I've debated backing out but no, I should do this. It'll be fun. And I'm having a lot of fun stretching my creative muscles the last two months. 

So why the picture of the acorns? They are my main crafting component! Along with wire, beads and pilers OH MY. I'm making several types of pendants with acorn caps and button bouquets and play dough (okay, the play dough is a weird choice but I wanted to have something small and affordable that kids could purchase.) Will wanted to contribute so he's making acorn jewels. 

One of the main problems I'm having is finding the right time to craft. When inspiration hits, I usually should be making dinner instead. My second problem is getting distracted by all the possibilities. I love crafting with acorns — the textures, the feel, the colors. First I was just making one type of pendant, now I'm up to four and I'm trying to resist another design. I saw a picture of mini-acorn cap candles and immediately wanted to make a few dozen. It's hard to keep myself on track and making just what I decided to make for the fest. My third problem is booth design. I need to keep it simple but boy, could I have fun with some burlap and shutters and I'm definitely making a twig tree to hang the necklaces. Again, got to keep on track.

Pictures of the booth and art fest to follow. It's exciting. Did I mention I was nervous?!

Playing in the rain

"Peter Spier's Rain" 

Sometimes, a parent can forget that a kid just needs to be a kid. Sometimes, all it takes is a book to remind us how special and fun and messy childhood can and should be. 

For this post, I have to thank Vanessa at Silly Eagle Books for her post on Peter Spier and his mostly wordless books. A few days after the post, I brought home "Peter Spier's Rain" from the library. And a few days after that, it did in fact rain fairly hard at our house.

I took Joseph and his friend Woodrow out to play in the rain puddles (mom's still responsible — no thunder or lightning). They had a ball getting muddy. Then they had fun getting clean in the tub. Ain't it great to be a kid!

One scoop or two?

Here's a picture of last night's sunset. 

Doesn't it look like Neapolitan ice cream? See the three layers?

(Finding the beauty in the everyday things keeps me sane.) 

Happy weekend!

Look what I have

Ordinary wine bottle or the devil's work? Work of art that sells for big bucks or a young lady up to no good? We live in the Bible Belt. You can't do much here that someone doesn't find immoral. And that label right there was deemed immoral and outright banned in the state of Alabama last year.

I immediately wanted one. Had folks scouting for it in Georgia and Tennessee. Wanted a case to hand out as Christmas gifts. My search did not yield results and I forgot about it.

Last weekend we took an end-of-year trip to Atlanta to visit a good friend and see the fishes. We always hit our favorite liquor store during trips over. This wine is not the only thing they don't sell in Alabama. In fact, there is a good bit of good quality beer we can't get due to state laws. But as we were on the road on the way home, I off-handedly mentioned that Chris should have looked for the wine. His sweet reply, "There's one in the back." 

Woo-Hoo!