Slumber Party

Ahh, sweet summertime!  The kiddies are out of school, the air is warm (ok, HOT), the days are long....well, you get the picture.


Anyway.


Since the kids are out of school for summer break now, sweet Miss M spent the night with me and Hubby last weekend.  


SLUMBER PARTY!!


We had such a good time with our precious girl.  We played a little ball in the backyard and boy, was it HOT that day!

Yeah, I'm not very athletic so me attempting to hit a ball was quite amusing.


Here's Miss M and Hubby enjoying a popsicle...my favorite summer treat!

Isn't she the most adorable little sweetheart?

Next, we had some craft time.  Miss M actually came up with this fun idea to make a bird feeder from a water bottle!  Creative, yes?

Every little girl needs a flower from her uncle.  Makes the day perfect!  I love this picture of M.  She looks so happy!

And, after all of that exciting adventure, she was out like a light!  

Those slumber parties sure are some good times!  I think Hubby and I enjoyed it as much as Miss M did.  

Now, time for some relaxation and a long holiday weekend.  I think we are going to do some thrift store shopping, garage sale adventuring and grilling with the fam.  

What are your plans for this Memorial Day weekend?

We've Got Some Catching Up To Do

OK, so I'm really not good at keeping up with this blog thing.  Life gets so busy...where does the time go, anyway?


So much to catch up on since it's been, let's see...FOREVER since I've written anything!  


Since I last posted, my darling Hubby's father suffered a stroke.  He's making remarkable progress, but has a long way to go.  We would definitely appreciate your prayers for him.  Hubby and I went to Ohio to visit with him the weekend before Mother's Day.  We had a wonderful time with him, my mother-in-law, Hubby's baby sister and his older sister and her family.


While we were in Ohio, we also visited Hubby's cousin's greenhouse and nursery, where we got this HUGE hanging basket for my mom for Mother's Day.

And, since we're on the subject of Mother's Day...I hope all of my sweet mama friends had a fantastic day!  You all have the hardest, yet most rewarding job out there and you deserve a day to relax and be pampered.  Hubby and I spent the day with my parents and my sister and her family.  We had a great time!  My mom is one of the most amazing women I've ever met.  I love her so much!

Me, Mom & Sis

Here's a picture of my orange tiger lilies in full bloom, for no reason other than they're so pretty and I love looking at them.

And on a final note, I made homemade bread for the first time this weekend, sans bread maker!!  It was a long process but the bread turned out amazing!

Waiting for the dough to rise

After punching down and kneading for the second time

Divided into two loaves

The finished product!

The bread was delish!  You can find the recipe here.  It's a little sweeter than I had anticipated...more like a Hawaiian bread.  I think next time, I will cut down the sugar to 1/4 cup to make it taste more like a regular white bread.  Either way, it's yummy!

Enjoy your week, friends.  Be blessed!

Near and Dear

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Lupus is an auto-immune disease that can damage any part of the body, from the skin to the joints to organs.  It is a disease of flares and remissions and can range from mild to life-threatening.  It is not contagious.  It is not cancer.  And it is actually a much more common disease than most people think.

It is also a disease that is very near and dear to me, as my beautiful sister was diagnosed with lupus a few years ago.  Here she is with my sweet nieces and nephews.  Precious, yes?

So, for that reason (among others), lupus awareness is important to me.  Great progress has been made in diagnosis and treatment over the last several years, due to increased awareness.  Knowing what lupus is and how to recognize symptoms leads to earlier diagnosis and better treatment options.  It also helps to fund research to determine a cause and cure for this disease.  Please take a few minutes to read more about Lupus Awareness Month here.

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In other news, Hubby and I are slowly but surely getting some flowers planted.  One of my favorite things about spring time is getting to buy and plant new flowers and see everything come alive with blooms and pretty colors.

I love these pretty pink Dahlia's.

And these pretty pink flowers, too.

I bought this really cool silicone cross cake pan from Avon a few months ago and had never used it.  So, I decided to bake some yummy brownies in it.  They turned out really cute.  And delicious!

   

If you love it, you can buy your very own here.

Anndddd...that's about all we've been up to lately.  Here's one last (and pretty hilarious) photo for you guys.  

It's sweet Jasper kitty in the middle of a yawn, looking a lot like he's about to swallow my face!

Y'all have a good week!