Birthday Cake

I am NOT an artist.  NOR am I REAL crafty. But I am CHEAP, soo paying for a bday cake is usually not an option.  However as G gets older his cakes are becoming more and more of a pain in you know what.  He has such high expectations for his mother to "whip" up some great 5 star cake. I do enjoy TRYING..however sometimes they are a FLOP.  And I should say that the cake itself is not the problem it's that decor and/or icing that is the problem.

This year we tried something different.  Garrett's bday is always hot and humid and this year was no exception.  So we did ice cream cake

One package of snack size snickers chopped up.  (you can use any candy or cookies you would like)

2 boxes of 12 count ice cream sandwiches..we used 1 box vanilla another box peanut butter chocolate chip

One layer of ice cream sandwiches in 9x13 pan. 

1 jar of chocolate fudge syrup warmed up (makes it easier to pour, can also you caramel or butterscotch)

Pour on top of first layer of i.c.sand. then cover fudge w/candy. and start another layer of ice cream sandwiches.

Cover w/ whip cream or plain vanilla ice cream.  Then freeze.  After a good 12 hours take out and decorate.

I opted for whip cream.  I don't think I would recommend that for decorating w/frosting or gel frosting. The whip cream thawed waaay to fast and the frosting ended up being a jumbled mess. 

Finished Product-Its ok if you laugh out loud.  I did, and because I won't be there watching over your shoulder as you read this- it really is ok to say-Yes, she isn't an artist!

In case you are wondering what on earth that yellow thing is..

G wanted a JOHN DEERE emblem-not just the words but the EMBLEM/TRADEMARK

Happy Birthday G-Man!

My oldest is 10...how can that be?  I remember thinking he would NEVER be born.  He took forever to get here, but once he did..life has NEVER been the same. 

Garrett you are wonderful and WE LOVE YOU!

We had our family bday party last night and a little friend party tonight...to be continued!

4th of July

On the 4th of July we headed into Clay Center to watch fireworks. Our neice, Boston, and nephew, Brooks and family joined us. It was wet and drizzly but for the most part didn't rain until later. 

First pic of all 5...some people were lighting fireworks off a few cars down....

2nd pic of all 5...apparently fireworks are
more important than a crazy mom and aunt wanting to take a group pic!

Finally...3rd time's a charm

Brooks and Owen decided that sitting in the back of the van was funner than in the rain!

Summer Ball 2010

Well...ball ended this past week.  Several solid weeks of 3 games a week ended.  Overall it was a great season.  It was hot a few games, but not unbearable and we never had ONE rain out, which is amazing considering the wet summer we had.

Maddison enjoys ball A LOT.  She did very well.  However she is getting a little impatient w/the "t-ball" thing.  Meaning not keeping score and everybody bats type of thing.  She is just a little more competitive than t-ball.  We shall see what next year brings. 

Garrett's team WON the championship on Thursday night.  It was very exciting.  This season Garrett played many if not all positions.  His team only had 9 players and he was at church camp during the first 2 games of the tourney.  Our team in fact only played w/ 6 boys and won both early games.  On Thursday night G was back so they had 7.  

Here he is catching

Batting

He even pitched one inning. 

Sorry for the blurry pic, but my camera and I were having issues. 

Owen spent a lot of time at the ball field too.  He loved to "warm up" outside the fence

OR he was snacking!

For as much as we were at the ball field he did amazing and only one instance of pulling down his pants in front of everyone to pee on a tree!  For a country boy who sometimes goes wherever and whenver, I'd say that's pretty good!  In some ways I'm sad ball is over, HOWEVER-I feel like my summer can BEGIN!

Royals Game

So once again I'm LONG over do on posts.. sorry

These are pics from a recent Royals game we went to.  It was fun.  Kids actually enjoyed it and we had great seats-thanks to a sales rep from Brent's work.

Tailgating-Pops and Chips (we were a little unprepared!)

Owen thought it funny to NOT look at the camera.

Family Photo

Can you see a pattern starting w/Owen?

But we still kept taking pics.

Fountains

Daddy and kiddos

The older two were a lot happier to take pics

Maddie's fave player.Do you know????

Food-The kids each get one thing and then Brent and I get the leftovers. 

Garrett had a sundae, but it was practically melted before we got back to our seats!

answer: Billy Butler-I think she just likes saying his name!

1- What’s your staple meal (ie. what meal do you cook most often when you can’t be bothered to be adventurous)?  Spaghetti no question

2- What do you want to be when you grow up? I think a travel agent would be waay fun.  I love looking up cool trips and getaways.  I would however have to get over the fact that I wasn't going along w/my clients!

3- What book are you reading at the moment (if any)?  I am ALWAYS reading a book or magazine.  Even if its one that I have and read a dozen times.  I like that 15 minutes of quiet time after lunch.  Right now I have a stack from the library- you see I was going to do my own "parent" summer reading program just like the kids have.  Well...apparently my children have more time than me, I have finshed 3 books and one was REALLY long.  And absoulutely amazing.  I truly think it is one of the best books I have ever read.  BUT right now I'm reading Painted Dresses by Patricia Hickman.  Its ok, not what I thought it would be about, but I'll continue.

4- How do you relax?  Read or go for a walk/run. 

5- What color are the interior walls of your home?  All log or log paneling.  I can't remember the name of the stain.  I think it is Chestnut.  The basement we did sheetrock and painted.  There is a reason the upper 2 levels are all one color!

6- What is your guiltiest pleasure?  Dark Chocolate

7- What time is bedtime and getting up time?  Summer whenever going to bed and 6:30am get up time
Winter around 10pm and up at 5:30

 8- How long do you spend reading blogs (per day or per week)?  Have no idea.  Especially summer time.  More in the winter. I'd day 20 minutes/day

Ok...who to tag?  well of course my sister Katie.  Lindsay at the Henry Bunch, and Beth at Foster Roster. 

Note: I don't recommend my current book-Its really kinda depressing.

Road Race

Our church held its 12th annual Road Race.  Its a fundraiser for our youth group.  Its a 10K and a 1 mile fun run/walk.  I actually ran the 10K both last year and this year and I'm pretty sure my time was EXACTLY the same...not sure good or bad, but I finished and I didn't walk.  But O my goodness was it hot and humid and little breeze, did I mention humid???  I have run a few races and even done an adventure race and I didn't get as hot as Saturday, but again I finished and glad I did it.  (I was very tempted to back out at the last minute)

O's job for the race was to ring our old church bell when runners approached the finish line. 

(Maddie apparently needed to help as well)

Faster than a speeding bullet! hahahaha

Yep, that's me and that is how Brent took this pic, I promise you I didn't crop it.

FINISH LINE

Owen did the "1"mile too...only his one mile was from the start line to the finish line, without .99 miles in between, but isn't he cute??

Garrett Start of 1 mile........end of 1 mile

Maddie start of 1 mile.......finish of 1 mile..

notice the facial expressions have changed from smiling to nearly crying?  I felt the SAME way. 

My mom walked too and even shaved a few minutes off her time from last year, sorry no pics!  But still proud of you!  Then the rains came down...right after we started breakfast and the awards ceremony.  Glad no one (including me) was still running because it was NASTY out. 

We shall see about next year.....