Playing "Fireworks" With Brayden's Birthday Balloons One Last Time...

Love these kids.

Dinosaur Pancakes

The kids enjoyed this as a morning breakfast! I made the pancakes circular like normal and then once they cooled I cut them into dinosaur shapes using a dinosaur cookie cutter.

Happy First Day of Second Grade!

Our superstar is in the gifted and talented class again, and also, he gets the same teacher again this year and 12 of the same kids in his class that he already knew from last year! He's such a lucky little guy! :)

Fall Soccer Is Back!!!!

Our first game is on September 10th. This is Brayden in action at practice. He's made 2 goals so far!

Beautiful Day on Kiawah

Rainbow light prism! 
 

We had a great time at Kiawah! There were lots of sand dollars and starfish! We went for a walk and relaxed and played in the water, it was so much fun! It was a beautiful day and hopefully a new start tradition to go to Kiawah on the last day of summer break!

Park and Playground Fun

We are so lucky to live in a neighborhood where we can walk to the park fields and the two playgrounds! The kids enjoyed tonight because we came with daddy and flew airplanes and discs, and then went to have some fun on the playground and slides! We love summer evenings!

Back to School Apple Cupcakes

It's almost time for back to school! So today I made these adorable "apple" cupcakes. I just used a regular vanilla cake mix. You could put apples in it though to make it a little different! 
Once the cupcakes were done and cooled I made some buttercream icing to smooth over the top that I had dyed red. Then I sprinkled some red sprinkles over the top to give it some piz-azz. Then I put a pretzel stick in the center and (because of the fact that I had no mint leaves) I just put a bay leaf in for the cuteness effect. But mint leaves would work much better! :)

Summer Nights, Watermelon and Movies Under the Stars

Our second movie night outside, this time in a different location and with friends who invited us. They showed the movie "Home", which we had seen before and loved! Great time with great friends. :)

Make Your Own Volcano

We used a yogurt container covered with different colors of playdough as our "volcano." Then we mixed vinegar and water together and poured it into the container almost all the way to the top. Then we put red food coloring in so it would look more like "lava." Then we added some baking soda to the mixture in the container and boom! The volcano erupted! Great activity to do outside on a warm summer afternoon!

Fried Chicken Sub

My hubs came up with this one. We got a large french loaf from the bakery. Then we got chicken tenders and fried them in panko and egg wash with salt and pepper. If you are feeling lazy or just don't feel like frying the chicken tenders, then you could always supplement this recipe for chicken tenders pre-made in a bag. Then we baked a pack of bacon in the oven so it became nice and crispy. The sauce on top you see is honey mustard, just from a jar. we layered the chicken and the bacon on one side of the french loaf after we toasted it. Then we added cheese and parsley to the other side of the bread, and put it back in the oven to melt and become ooey gooey and delicious. Then we topped the cheesy side of the bread to the bacon/chicken side and made sandwich sized slices throughout. Yummy!

Pinapple Poke Cake

My mom came up with this recipe for us to enjoy poolside. She made the cake out of a regular white cake box mix. Then instead of using oil, she used pineapple juice. Then when the cake came out of the oven, she poked holes in it, and poured over the top a mixture of pineapple juice, coconut cream and sweetened condensed milk. 1/2 cup for each ingredient. She waited for it to cool completely, then she mixed the remaining coconut cream, sweetened condensed milk and pineapple juice (1/2 cup of each) and poured it over the top, decorating it finally with pineapple slices in a can! Yummy!

Cool Dude

Hudson chillaxing pool side.

Fun Beach/Creek Day

We are so lucky to be surrounded by so much beauty where we live! We had a great day at the beach/creek with some good friends who joined us. We were blessed with nice weather too!

Boat Captain

We love weekends in Emi's pool!

Meatballs and Gravy Over Rice

You wont believe how easy and delicious this is! We actually used store bought freezer meatballs, but you could make your own as well! We baked them according to the package directions. While they were baking, I cooked the rice and made the gravy. The gravy was made by melting 1/2 stick of butter in a skillet. Then I added salt, pepper and garlic to taste. Then I added 4 tablespoons of flour, and stirred the mixture until thickened, but not browned. Then I added 2 and 1/2 cups of beef broth, one cup at a time, stirring frequently. Then I allowed it to bubble and thicken on medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Once everything was ready, I poured the meatballs and gravy mixture over the rice! So easy! You could also use mashed potatoes in place of the rice.

We Had a Ball! --- At Brayden's Bowling Birthday Party

We are so thankful to all the kids and families who came to Brayden's bowling birthday party this year. They really made it special, and we had a blast!