Dinner With Friends

We rarely get to go out with friends, mainly because we never know how the kids are going to behave, so when our friends Scotty and Peggy had a fish fry a few weeks ago we jumped at the chance to go! They have three kids, and their youngest, Adrianna, is only a little older than Brianna so we knew they'd have a great time!

Well, Brianna had a great time playing dress-up with all of Adrianna's clothes/shoes/jewelry/makeup which was all new to her! But I bet you can only guess how thrilled she was to walk around the back of their house and find... animals! Everything from goats to chickens to dogs, and she had a ball! She fell in love with the dogs, and Peggy decided at one point just to get one of them out for Bri to play with. This is Tinkerbell and Brianna is officially in love.

Tinkerbell is used to being carried around like a baby doll, which worked out great for Brianna. She didn't put that dog down for hours!

Adrianna has all kinds of cool outdoor toys that we don't have! So Brianna and Hunter got to test drive a lot of new stuff!!

 The two sweet girls!!

Hunter fell in love with this car. He played in it for almost an entire hour even though he couldn't figure out how to move it. After some chatting with Peggy and Scotty, we threw the thing in the back of our truck and brought it home for just $5!!

That car was the best investment ever. Both the kids love it and it works perfectly on our driveway!

We had a great time just lounging outside, not having to worry about the kids, having good conversation, delicious fish (and other dishes!) and yummy oysters! It was such an awesome afternoon and it made me so happy that our kids are getting to the ages that we can do more and more stuff like this without having to worry about them so much (full diaper bags, extra food, extra changes of clothes, etc etc.)

Wildflowers from Winter Review

I just finished reading the book "Wildflowers from Winter" by Katie Ganshert. This is Ganshert's first published novel as far as I can tell, and I absolutely loved it! It was a faith-based romance/drama book but it was modern and not cheesy like most books in that category. This book has tragedies, laughter, and a lot of real-life grief situations.

The book mainly deals with a woman named Bethany, who walked away from her faith when she was a child due to a preacher who was a "you're going to hell!" type of preacher. When she is brought back to her old town in support of her best friend, she has to relive a lot of really tough childhood memories, and come to grips with the fact that perhaps not everyone claiming to be a Christian really has that faith, or really has all the right answers. Of course she ends up falling in love while she's in that town, to a man with whom she has constant disagreements!

It's a cute story with a happy ending. I just read that Ganshert is writing more books to go along with this one, in order to have a series. I would happily read another of her books and I recommend reading this one.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.

Little Moments

I've often wished I kept a better journal - this blog is better than nothing, but I'm not usually near it, and when I am I'm usually doing something purposeful or trying to make a few bucks. So I've started making memos on my phone when I think of things I want to write about later. This is one from Saturday and I don't want to forget this moment.

"Moment of the day: Driving down the road, it's 80 degrees outside, we have the windows rolled down, we're blasting Barlowgirl, and I look in my rearview mirror to see Brianna singing along to the music. Perfection."

Lord, please let my memory remember that moment, and not the one 30 minutes later where a huge temper tantrum occurred in Walmart...  Hahaha!

Momaholic Review

Honestly, I could not tell you the reason I picked "Momaholic: Crazy Confessions of a Helicopter Parent" to review. My children aren't old enough yet to turn me into a "Momaholic" but I guess I thought I would get some insight into the future by reading this book. The author, Dena Higley, begins by talking about the lowest point of her life - almost overdosing on alcohol - but by the time she describes the events leading up to this low point, you almost can't blame her for it! Enter the events: an autistic son, a daughter with a birth defect who has just gone through foot surgery, a son who causing a bit of a stir at school, and then her daughter who is a sophomore in college finds out she is pregnant and therefore getting married immediately. Oh, and did I mention Higley is a head writer for Days of Our Lives?

Wow. Higley spends the book recounting all these events and going into a lot of detail about her children. She explains how she got to the low point, but then she is gracious enough to show the recovery side. She tells the whole story, which I think a lot of parents can probably relate to.

The book was easy to read. Higley is a good writer (I would hope so, considering that's her day job!), she's funny, and the stories are interesting. But honestly her story almost felt like the things you might find on a blog, not an entire book. I appreciate her honesty in writing this book to help other women and laying out everything.

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Free Things

One of the best things in life is this:

Deciding at 5:30pm that you want to spontaneously switch up your meal plan for the evening and realize you are craving your mom's meatloaf.

Calling said mother in the hopes that she can get to her recipe quickly enough to figure out if you have all the ingredients.

Mother answers phone and has recipe memorized. WINNING!

You have all the ingredients on hand. Fifteen minutes later it's in the oven.

Made. My. Night.

Picture Update

I've got to get these pictures off my phone! I'm terrified something will happen to my phone and all my pictures/videos will be lost forever.

We went to dinner with one of our favorite families, the Akridges, the other night.

Of course Hunter was hitting the courts as usual:

Kaleb just chilling:

 Brianna hard at work:

Oma takes all three grandchildren for a walk! (Well, Hunter is helping push the stroller so it's not like she's really working that hard!)

 Brianna - 35 months, Hunter - 17 months, Kaleb - 8 months!

My sweet children!!

 Cindy thought her makeup would distract Brianna while we were in our ladies group meeting. Let's just say she was correct. And also she probably needs to purchase new makeup now.

 The tower that Brianna built me while I was at above ladies group meeting:

 I was a bad influence and we skipped Kindermusik to play on the playground instead...

Bri is a girl after my own heart - singing at the top of her lungs with her feet hanging out the window!!

Kassie is a BFF of Brianna's!!

Discarding Kitchen Grease

This is a really great post from Hallee the Homemaker on why it's important to discard carefully of your kitchen grease. Take a look at those pictures - you'll probably change up some things in your kitchen!

Videos

Two short videos for your entertainment:

This one is less than 2 minutes and is Brianna reading/singing a book. The first part you can hear Hunter screaming from upstairs - he wanted Brianna to come up and play with him.




Second video is very short - I just think it's really funny to make kids say the word "cinnamon".

Local Business: Cupcakes

I like to talk about local businesses if I am really impressed with them (some I have spoken about in the past are Tucker Jo's, The Little Toy Store, Classy Paci Boutique, Spirit in the Sky Massage, and local farmers).

I never knew about C Cups Cupcakery until a friend of ours from church started working there. One of her first weekends working, our whole family decided to stop in for a snack of cupcakes. Let me tell you - these cupcakes are so. good. They have such a great variety, it is totally worth paying a little more out of pocket for something that is professionally done, local, and delicious!! You might be able to get something cheaper at a grocery store bakery or from a box but it's not going to taste like these.

I can personally vouch for chocolate, lemon, cherry, and snickerdoodle. I downed almost an entire handful of cupcakes by myself the day that our whole family went!!

Another thing I liked about this business is that in the small seating area they have, they had a small table for kids to draw on. This entertained our 3-year old and 18-month old while we finished off our cupcakes and cleaned off our table. Very cute idea!

I definitely recommend that you check them out, and they will be at Springfest this weekend, so - perfect opportunity to stop by their booth!

C Cups Cupcakery
105 E Pennsylvania Ave
Southern Pines, NC 28387
(910) 246-2877
Website
Facebook

God Gave Us Love Review

I have read one of Lisa Tawn Bergren's books before, so I was really excited to see God Gave Us Love offered as a review book. This one did not disappoint! I love Little Cub and I love the way Bergren talks about things on a child's level. In this book she explains, through a discussion between Little Cub and Grampa Bear, why we should love others, even when they seem to be unlovable. The Grampa Bear character does a great job of explaining how God loves us, and that when we love others we are showing God's love through us.

My 3-year old loves these books and they aren't books I get tired of reading to her. I love these characters and I highly recommend these books to parents or teachers.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.

Go here for details about this book.
Go here for an excerpt from the book.
Go here for an author spotlight of Lisa Tawn Brergen.