It's a Doughnut Day!

I gave WHS the Paula Deen Kid's Cookbook years ago.  In fact, it was probably given to JBS.  WHS is the first one to take interest.  He has marked just about every single page with the exception of vegetables :(  He has been BEGGING to make the doughnuts.  So, this Saturday morning, it was a doughnut kind of morning.

We got to sleep in this morning....until 6:15am vs 5:30am.  JBS was heading out the door to spend the day Kayaking and earning his Kayak merit badge for scouts.  So proud of this kid.

Since we were up, we hit the kitchen.  We had to cook early because THIS cute kiddo has a double-header Flag Football game this morning.

My mom used to make these for me out of biscuits, but we just cut them in quarters.  This recipe, which WHS insisted upon following to a T, required a bottle cap to punch holes in the center of the biscuits.  After pouring an entire QUART of oil in the pot, we began to fry.

And they were such a pretty color of brown.

When the going got tough, the little WHS got going.  JLS powdered all the doughnuts and when they were complete, guess who showed back up?  Yep.  Ready to eat.  Not sure I have trained this one well enough yet to help me in the kitchen!

Happy Doughnut Day!

Magnolia West

I can assure you I am getting closer to getting caught up with my blog and not having to go back to 2015 for blog posts.  I just don't want to miss anything!  Here I found some of the final pictures of Luke's season as a Magnolia West football player.  While he is currently playing flag football, he has already made comments of going back to pads.  Aye-yi-yi.

Love to see the coaches still praying after a game.  Good ole All-American Football!

1st Day of School Besties

We arrived to school at the same time as LC and we LOVE that his Momma always carries her camera!

And the 3 L's together again.  No idea how this keeps happening, but it does!

13 Years

So, our 13th anniversary was January 11th and here we are.  I just didn't post back then :)  We had a wonderful night out for dinner just resting in our future.  It was my first night out in a VERY long time eating real food and loving it. 

We have certainly been dealt some cards in our short marriage that we wouldn't have expected or wanted.  But I am so grateful to be plugging thru life with a Godly man like my hubs.  He loves me thru all the yuck, thru the stress and all the medical bills :/  But we both find peace in our Lord and Savior who has carried us thru all of it, probably by the nape of our necks.  Here's to 13 years and hopefully a future of many more HEALTHY years to enjoy together!

Thanksgiving 2015

By Thanksgiving, I was determined to cook a real meal for our family.  I was tired, but I was determined.  We had family that was coming and then they were unable to, so we had a big meal, but we had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, by golly!

I enlisted some help to help me.

Homemade stuffing...

  

JBS made the Pecan Pie...

JLS made the Cranberry Salad...

JBS set our table...

We made Indian Teepees out of ice cream cones...

I made a Turkey Dip...

 Pink Stuff...

Mashed Potatoes...

Green Bean Casserole...

Sweet Potatoes...

Corn Pudding...

Stuffing...

Rolls....

Are you hungry yet?  Yummo!

Flag Football

No words.  Only Faces....

Cute little athletic body.

And this is WHS...

Still a cutie.

Thanksgiving Feast

WHS adored his 1st grade teacher.  ADORED.  I wasn't able to help much with school that semester, so I offered to make everyone a personalized placemat for their Thanksgiving Feast.  They turned out really cute!

I need to think of something different and cute for this year!

NASA Overnight

I found this post in my Drafts folder so it is a bit old :/ Better late than never!

The great part about living in Houston is that the scouts get to spend the night under the stars at NASA!  How cool is that?  This was a father-son event, so pictures are coming from JBS and Babe.

JBS was very impressed by this big watch.  It is the official NASA time.

When they fell asleep, this is what they were looking at...

They literary slept under the stars!

They were a tired bunch when the returned, but I know they had a great time!

So proud of this cutie!

BSF

This little guy has waited YEARS....seven to be exact...to be old enough to go with Daddy to Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) on Tuesday nights.  JBS and JLS have both gone, JLS loving it more.  It is a late night for a school night, but the curriculum is wonderful.  We know several families who go as a family:  the wife to the ladies study during the day, the husband and kids to the men's study at night.  Then, they are all studying the same thing at the same time and able to answer questions together.

WHS's night finally came.  He caught wind that Babe was getting ready for BSF and his face lit up, "Can I go???"  I told him he had to bathe and get ready in a short period of time so he could slip into bed when he got home late.  He did everything he was told and ran to the kitchen looking as smart as a whip.  When I commented that he looked like he was wearing the same shirt as Daddy, he said, "I know!"  He did it intentionally.

This sweetie is as sweet as the come and he ADORES his Dad.  He loves to dress like him, be with him and definitely go to BSF with him...especially when the big boys DON'T go! :)

2 Cub Scouts

I am missing one of my cute scouts, but this year, we have ALL arrived.  WHS is now a Cub Scout.  He has been a "me too" for so many years, he finally gets to don the uniform himself.

He insisted upon going to the Scout shop with me so he could pick everything out for himself.  He tried to wear his uniform to church (the day of the new scout meeting).  But by the time it was time to leave for the meeting, little bit showed up in perfect uniform.  

For some reason, he has an issue smiling for the camera, but he was over the moon excited to be going to the Pack meeting with his big brother, JLS.  Round three, here we come!

Bathroom Remodels

When we bought our house, we decided to wait on the bathroom remodels so we could save up a bit and fix them up how we wanted.  We were going thru construction all summer long and it FINALLY ended last week.  Our house has been a disaster. I have come and gone from 2 surgeries waking up to workmen every morning.  I love our contractor, but I am really happy to not greet him in my jammies every morning!

We gutted the master bath and the upstairs "guest" bath that became JBS' bath before the end of the project. Here are the before pictures of the upstairs bath:

When you walked in, it was very tight.  A very small sink and toilet with the shower just out of picture range to the left.

Shower to the right behind that wall...

It was a very hollow drop in shower...

And the AFTER:

 Here are the BEFORE of the Master Bath.  The tub took up a huge amount of space in the corner, there was only one sink on a low vanity and very little storage at all.

And the AFTER:

Tub is still fabulously deep and takes up half the space....

We turned the entrance to the shower so we could have built-ins and a dressing table across the wall...

The new potty room :)

Higher vanities, double sinks, better storage...

We finished up the tile around the boys' bathtub in their bathroom as well.  It was the final piece to completing their bathrooms that we started when we moved in...

Dust has been vacuumed, steam cleaned, swept, dusted and hopefully gone by the wayside.