Aiden was snuggling with his daddy one night while Jay was talking to his folks. 

 My red eye thing on my computer sucks.

My turn to talk Daddy!

 Talking on speaker phone with Grandma.

It was ridiculous hot out one day after school so we went outside to play in the sprinklers. It was nice and refreshing.

My Lollipop Jungle (aka Candy Land)

Yet another Zoey creation, all inspired by the empty diaper box I hadn't yet thrown in the recycle. The original idea came from Zoey but Kylie helped some with the execution.

It's a *card*board game.

 It's called My Lollipop Jungle, I call it Candy Land.

 The green thing is a jello cave. Kepsi is soda named after Kylie. The tall thing in the back is a lollipop.

 The Hershey kiss volcano with chocolate lava. Dr Zoey named after Zoey obviously.

 Lollipop trees. Noah's soda Noke. The little bush thing on the side is a cotton candy bush with gum drops on it.

 My favorite part of the whole thing were the playing pieces. We each chose a color and she made a gummy bear playing piece for us. 

 The train track looking thing is the path you take. She even made cards with numbers to draw so you knew how many spaces to move. I just love this girl and her imagination. 

When Kylie had her last sleepover before she moved we had to kick things up a notch and make it memorable, so. . .we had ice cream sundaes for lunch the next day. 

I just love the way babies sleep.

Summer Evenings

Many evenings this summer haven't been as miserably hot out as in the past. We have spent a little bit more time outside because of it. It has been really nice and the kids love it. I sure can't wait until the weather is nice enough to open up all the windows during the day and night and let the fresh air in. It can't come soon enough. Very grateful for some of the more mild temps we have been lucky enough to have here and there though.

 I only changed the color on this because it was blurry and the black and white made it look a little less so. And the only reason I care is because I love this picture.

Homemade Jam

So I got this itch a little while back to take a stab at making my own strawberry jam. When strawberries were on a great sale one week I finally bought a bunch and figured it would motivate me to make jam. I certainly wasn't going to buy a bunch of strawberries and let them go to waste. So one Saturday my sister Jenn and I made jam. It was fun to try something new and I am super happy and proud of how it turned out. I was also amazed at how incredibly easy it was. There was certainly something very fulfilling about making my own jam. I am excited to try more things in the future like maybe spaghetti sauce and salsa.

The needed supplies.

 Throw everything except the sugar in a pot and bring it to a boil.

 Add 7 cups of sugar. For real, 7. It's insane.

 Boil it 'violently'. Got that term from the pioneer lady. Love it!

 Turn off heat and skim the foam.

 Fill the jars, make sure to make a mess because for me at least there is no other way to cook.

 Boil the jars.

 Lay out to rest and wait to hear those wonderful popping sounds of the lids sealing.

It really is basically that simple. It looks beautiful and tastes awesome. We made it through our first jar in a couple days. We also made jam with less sugar and it turned out equally as delicious. Just make sure you buy the proper pectin. Everyone should take a shot at canning. Jam is a super simple, easy way to start. OK, Ready. Set. Go!

Noah's 6th Birthday Party

 This awesome boy chose the best dinner ever. We had pork baby back ribs, loaded mashed potatoes, homemade bread and frozen corn.

 So pleased with his food choice.

 I think they might have been really good.

 He was such a nice big brother and let Olivia help him open presents.

 The night before his party he finally had an epiphany about his cake. It had to be lemon. So I made a boxed lemon cake, layered it with lemon curd, then topped it with homemade lemon cream cheese frosting. It wasn't as beautiful as I would have liked but it turned out yummy.

 I can't believe our boy is 6. They have been a wonderful 6 years with him. We love him so much.

 I was proud that I got a picture of him blowing candles out first shot. I did it when he blew out the candles on his Hostess cupcake on his actual birthday too. If you have ever been around for our family parties you would know that I almost always stage the candle blowing photo because I miss it the first time. Ha Ha!

 Very happy with the lemon cake I came up with.

 That night we had fun playing with the glow sticks G&G McKinlay sent. We love glow sticks!