VBS, Missing Kitten, Spiders

This week I have been getting ready for vacation Bible school which starts Monday.  I brought home butcher paper, poster board, and construction paper from our supply room at church and have been staying up late every night getting things cut out, painted, and organized for the upcoming week.  Every craft I work on sparks J's interest.  He keeps asking if he is going to do that in his class.  We use the same theme and materials but every teacher does things a little differently.  I guess every afternoon next week, J and I will be doing my crafts to help reinforce the lessons!  He is so funny! 
We woke up this morning to find one if the kittens was gone.  I think it got taken by a dog or something.  J has been asking questions about it all day!  The other kitten hasn't strayed very far from the porch and has cried most of the day.  The dogs from across the road have been in our yard some and I'm afraid it's too scared to explore.  Poor kitties!  I'm a little glad we won't have to deal with pets (I'm not really a pet person.) but also frustrated with all the silly dogs around.  We are the only people in our "neighborhood" that don't have a dog so our front yard is used as a litter box.  I am so tired of chasing them away.  They even come over to relieve themselves on my car's tires!  Really!?!?  Ugh...one reason we don't have a dog or any other animal is because I don't want to walk through my yard and step in poo.  Apparantly no one else cares about that!
Vent over...moving on!
With summer approaching, the spiders have invaded our house.  They do this every year.  And every year I spend a week or two constantly looking for the little brown Charlottes creeping around.  K was sitting in the floor today while J and I made pizza rolls for dinner.  She doesn't like bugs and whines when she sees one. (When K sees a gnat and only a tiny gnat, she will hit the floor with whatever she is holding and yell, "Die!" Think she has heard that before?)  I thought she had just seen a fly but when I looked down, there was a spider a few inches from her feet.  I started throwing things at it because I couldn't get to the fly swat and, of course, there were no shoes nearby.  Go figure!  By the time I killed the silly thing, both kids were staring at me wide eyed.  I hate spiders and I guess I've terrified my children now!

Guests

This morning I walked by our front door and realized we had a guest on the porch.  I opened the door to find this little guy...or gal.

I fixed it a drink.  When I went back out to leave it on the porch, I found another one! 

J was very excited!  K was a little hyped up too but I'm not sure if it was over the kittens or being outside.  She did have fun trying to pet them this afternoon. 

They are a little skiddish.  One won't stick around very long if we are outside.  But I bought kitty food today after being reminded about a hundred times by a four year old boy.  We are going to see if they last through the week before taking them to the vet.  Kittens don't have good track records around here with all of the dogs running around.  They do like my chair cushion on the front porch so maybe they have found a new home. 

I wouldn't mind having a couple of cats to chase mice and critters away.  Not to mention that they are very cute! 

Thank You

Memorial day is a great day to gather with friends and family to kick off the summer.  We grill burgers, eat watermelon, swim, and enjoy an extra day at home with our families. 
But today is supposed to be a day of remembrance.  We have days like today because of the men and women who give their lives in service to our country.  So I'd like to say thank you to those soldiers are who sacrifice everything for my family, me, and everyone else in the USA.  It's inadequate compared to what they give for us but it's something everyone can do...say thank you. 


You can also show your thanks by going here and leaving a comment on this post.  For every thank you, a dollar donation will go to Operation Homefront to help soldiers and their families. 

Sunday Sampler

So I know it's been a while since I shared a recipe, and I remember a while back I said I would start sharing our weekly menu.  Since our little trip to Arlington, my blogging has been off.  I am going to try to get back on track this week! 
Our menu is always tentative but this is what it looks like right now...

Monday

Pork roast, roasted corn on the cob, baked beans, twice baked potatoes

Tuesday

Stuffed pizza rolls, fruit salad

Wednesday

We usually eat out with friends before worship on Wednesday night, so no cooking today!

Thursday

Poppyseed chicken, rice, green beans

Friday

Fried chicken tacos, refried beans, mexican rice

While I'm sharing, I have tried a few new recipes in the last few weeks.  These banana split cupcakes were delicious.  And these homemade Hostess cupcakes were so easy and yummy!  I also tried this cobbler crust recipe and have made it my go to pie crust recipe.  It's the easiest crust I've ever made and so flaky!

If you have any easy, kid friendly, nut free summer recipes, I would love to try them.  Happy cooking y'all!

John Deere Birthday

We celebrated cousin A's 2nd birthday last night.  He is so cute and had the best time playing with all of the big kids.  My kids love playing with their cousins and spending time with family.  We spent most of the part outside while the kids played baseball.  The girls are outnumbered so they just go along with the ball playing or watch.  K played in the rocks and even helped Seth pitch. 

Morgan made a John Deere cake that was delicious and cute!  A got a new tractor to drive outside but his favorite present was the giant bag of Reese's butter cups from Uncle Wes!  K helped open presents.  She just likes to pull the paper off.  Those two are only about six months apart and I have a feeling they are going to have lots of fun together as they get older. 

Happy Birthday Luke!

Luke celebrated his 21st birthday Wednesday!  Mom made chicken spaghetti, Luke's favorite, for dinner and two cakes.  Ashley drove in to spend a few days with him.  The kids love her so I think they were more excited about that than cake! 

I remember the day this little guy came home from the hospital.  I was ten.  He was like my very own, real life baby doll!  Poor thing! 

Now he is a foot taller than me and about to start his third year of college.  Happy Birthday Little Brother!  I love you!

Love the Baby

K loves playing with her baby dolls.  Lately she has been taking her burp clothes (which is the soft thing she likes to go to sleep with) and using them as doll blankets.  Sometimes she gets mad because she can't get is straight so I find myself swaddling baby dolls!  She likes to sit in my chair and rock them.  I'm so glad she likes dolls.  I can't wait until she is old enough to break out the barbie box!

Oh, wait!  That's me...with my doll Kimbra.  K plays with her now!

I Voted!

Did you?  I love to vote!  J also likes to help and remembers going last year to help me.  This year he helped Mamaw.  I don't know if he likes to push the buttons the best or visit with the ladies working the polls.  K even smiled and twirled around for them this year.  Our county judge won again and will have two more years in office.  This is very exciting considering J calls him "Judge" and always asks him to fix our road!  He drives by our house several times a day and we would be sad not to be able to call him "Judge" anymore! 
J will be excited in the morning when I tell him who won!

Dirty Faces

This afternoon, the kids and I went outside to play for a while.  K has learned how to climb the ladder on the play set so she can slide down the slide.  She did it over and over and over!  J started sliding too and they laughed, ran, and chased each other around.  I love watching them together.  Lately, she follows him around and he tries to get her occupied with something he doesn't want so he can play by himself.  I guess having a one year old shadow gets a little tiring! 

After they were worn out from all of the sliding, J decided we needed a popsicle.  Swinging and eating popsicles turned out to be quite fun! 

After popsicles, they hit the dirt.  Sticky, dirty faces are so sweet!  While they were digging, I put up a clothesline.  I can't wait to dry my sheets tomorrow!

We are going to enjoy our back yard this summer!

Counting Money

K has discovered how to put coins in coin banks.  She has been coming to Bible class with me for a little while on Sunday nights while we wait for the other kids to arrive.  We pass a coin can around for one of the children's homes we support.  Granny kept her occupied one night by letting her put coins in the can.  After Granny ran out of coins, the other ladies started passing theirs to her.  Now she comes in and points to the can!  The ladies in our class think it is so sweet! 
She has tonsilitis and hasn't felt all that great this weekend so this afternoon I gave her a pile of pennies to put in her little bunny bank.  She loved it!  Now when she finds money laying around, she takes it to her bunny.  What a smart girl!

Promised Pictures

Yummy Popsicles!

Sidewalk Chalk

Getting into Mamaw's ric rac.

She is saying "Cheese!"

New Computer

Blake is taking my little netbook to use at work so we bought a bigger laptop for me to use.  I am very excited!  But moving all of my documents, pictures, favorites... is taking a while.  I have pictures from the last couple of days but they will have to wait until tomorrow. 
Hope you have some fun weekend plans!  Have a happy Saturday!

No Training Wheels

I took the training wheels off of J's bike today.  He was very excited!  We tried it with one wheel still on first but he wanted them both off.  He did a great job!  No big crashes and he can even get started by himself...some of the time!  He likes to be pushed.  We are going to stick to the grass for a few days just to get the hang of things but I'm sure he will be road ready by the end of next week. 

Cows and Popsicles

Yesterday evening, Dad got the cows up and sprayed them for flies.  J was very excited about this and even asked Papaw to wait a day so he wouldn't miss it Monday night!  He chased cows, climbed on hay bales, and tried to rope everything he saw!  K had fun playing in the rocks, chasing a rabbit, and following J around.  Of course, I didn't have my camera so no pictures of the fun! 

Today we played outside for a while and had popsicles for a snack.  It was so hot today and K had fun holding the popsicle all by herself.  The really fun part was playing in the dirt with sticky hands and getting to wash them off and play in the water! 
And...again, no pictures! 

Happy Retirement, Mimi!

Monday night we went to celebrate Mimi's retirement.  She taught school for 30 years.  It was a nice reception.  J had fun meeting new people.  K would have been happier at home!  But that's just the way that goes. 

After the reception we had dinner at Carino's.  We had so much food and left stuffed!  The kids were exhausted and happy to be home in their my bed that night.