Grandma's Lemony Lemon Cake

I mentioned that my daughter had a birthday, but I didn't mention that my hubby also celebrated his birthday! Yes, our daughter was born on hubby's birthday! Best gift I ever gave him - and one that keeps on giving!! :)

There has always been a struggle over whose cake I make on their day. Well, this year they both got what they wanted. My girl got a cheesecake (which I did not make), and hubby got his favorite lemony lemon cake (recipe courtesy of his grandma).

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Another Year Older

A couple of months ago our oldest turned 20. And just this weekend our daughter turned 18. 18 and 20? How is that possible?? Seriously it was just yesterday that they came home from the hospital right? 

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September Happenings

Here we are, almost to the end of September. Where does the time go these days?? Although, I'm actually okay with it because it means I am one month closer to having my boy home for a few days from college.  I'm telling you, having him far away for college has been one of the hardest things I have had to do as a parent so far. But, he is loving it and doing well and that blesses my heart immensely!

September is always  a time for me to regroup from summer.  A time to get the house, and my family back on track and back into a healthy routine.  It's a good time. So, I thought I would share with you a little peak into what's been going on around him with our little family.

If you follow me on instagram you've seen some of these pics.

The temps have dipped down cooling enough here and there and I have happily taken advantage of that by pulling out the boots and sweaters!!

Cooler temps in the evenings also means more walks with my honey - precious quality time.

(I don't know what's with the feet pictures??)

Cooler temps also signals my craving for fall foods and snacks!  Candy corn is #1 in my book. And, a homemade apple pie just can't be beat!

Especially when you use grandma's pie plate ;).

I officially have another teenager in the house! Love him!!  Birthday's call for yummy birthday lunches, complete with old-time vanilla shakes :).

We've been watching this kiddo run cross-country for the first time this year and rockin' it!

Got to see this precious face thanks to the wonderful world of technology.  Things like this do make the distance a tad easier.

I am a perpetual piler.  I admit it.  So, sometimes I have to go through the piles...

Happiest of days was winning this amazing paint sprayer through an instagram contest held by 11 Magnolia Lane and Home Right.  It came in the mail this week and I have a long list of things waiting to be sprayed!!  

With the state of our world these days it seems hard to hold onto the joy.  I read this in my quiet time several days ago and it brought me such comfort.  I pray that we never forget that even though things may be unraveling all around us, God will hold us together if we will only hold onto Him.  

Praying you have a blessed weekend friends!! Thanks for joining me now and again in my frazzled mess of life!!

Fun things coming to the blog in the near future - stay tuned!

Reading Fun With Kids at Christmas

I was really hoping to get my stitched pillow post finished and ready to go for you today, but we spent the weekend doing this

college visit to MIT

and this

early birthday dinner at Olive Garden

and yesterday was his 18th birthday.

So I decided to bring you a simple and fun idea to share with your littles this Christmas season.

Over the years of my kids being small I was a collector of books.  I wanted a variety, but mostly I wanted the most bang for my buck.  My hubby and I spent thousands of hours sitting with our littles and reading. Best.time.spent.ever.  If you have littles, take a minute and sit down and read a book. I digress.  Me = collector of children's books.  I was fortunate that the preschool where I worked, participated with the scholastic book order program.  I was always able to find a good amount of books for $1-$3.  A great value when you are growing your own library.

Among my book collection, a collection of Christmas books emerged.  

Somewhere in the midst of that, while visiting the home of an older-mom friend, I noticed her basket of Christmas books sitting in the corner and I loved it. And so began another Christmas tradition.  When the Christmas decorations come out, so do the Christmas books.  Some years they are gathered in a basket.

Some years they have been wrapped in pretty wrapping paper.   A super fun thing to do with littles - they love the surprise of opening presents, and how fun is opening one book every night and reading a Christmas story??!!??

Some times, it's both - wrapped in the basket :)

In all the hustle and bustle of the days leading up to Christmas it is nice to take a moment with your kiddos curl up in a warm blanket and read a story!!

Blessings friends!!

Linking up with Mandy at Sugar Bee Crafts / Beth at Home Stories A to Z / Kristin at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia / Kristin at We Are That Family / Leslie at Lambert's Lately / Kristina at Mother's Niche / Ruth at Living Well and Spending Less / Wendy at The Shabby Nest / Jane at Finding Fabulous / Jen at Tatertots and Jello / Kathy at Cornerstone Confessions

Party Time-Camping Birthday

I'm playing a little catch-up today.  I really wanted to share with you some of the fun we had a month ago with my son Gavin's birthday party, and also some fun I had this weekend at a baby shower I hosted.  So, first I will share the birthday party today and the baby shower tomorrow.  As I shared here my baby turned 10.  Since we only do friend parties on "big birthdays" (10, 13, 16, 18) he was super excited and had all kinds of ideas but then chose a sleep-over.  The original plan included pitching a tent in the back yard for sleeping but it was a little too chilly for that.  But, I went with the camping theme anyway.  Here are a few photos - all pinterest inspired - because I don't have any original ideas anymore ;)

Simple basic decorations.

A combination of a couple of cakes I found on pinterest.  I love the blaze that the candles made when they were lit - looked like a real campfire!!  The trees were made by covering upside-down sugar cones with icing (star tip), the tent was graham crackers covered with icing, and the rocks were pretzels.  My little photo bomber down there helped with the writing - she has a much steadier hand than I do.

  Then, on to the fun - have you seen this game - shower cap+shaving cream+puff cheetos.  Perfect for 9 and 10yr old boys.  If I did it again I would probably use canned whipped cream instead of shaving cream.  A couple of boys had the shaving cream falling off their head into their face.  

My attempt at glow-in-the-dark bowling.  Fun, but the only problem was you really need a glowing ball too :)

We got creative and used the gas grill to make smores (don't have a fire pit).

Even Dad got in on the fun :)

Then there was movie watching and attempted sleeping - although after all the sugar I fed them they had a little bit of a hard time with that.  

Everyone had tons of - most important the birthday boy thought it was great!!

Come back tomorrow and see the fun from the baby shower :)