Wordless Wednesday: Yo Yo, Wuz Up?

Wordless Wednesday: Summer Fun with Daddy

It's Kind Of A Big Deal!

This past weekend, we marked a very important event in the lives of all Mommy's and Daddy's of toddlers. Gauge finally went Pee Pee in the potty. We have been sitting him on there periodically, but he would immediately want back off.

On Sunday evening, the kids were outside for a long time playing in their baby pool and sand box. When it was time to come inside to get their baths, I thought what the heck, I'll give it a shot. I sat him on there and he did just a tiny bit. I of course, made all over him....clapping, cheering, the whole nine yards. The more I clapped, the harder he tried to squeeze more out.

Yesterday, he did it again for my husband. This time we got way into and broke out in an impromptu "Pee Pee in the potty" dance right in the middle of the bathroom. Don't laugh, you know you all have done it! LOL :-)

This morning he woke up dry, so I put him on the potty. Boy, did he let loose. This was the most that he had ever done. When he was finished he pointed at me and said "clap!" Isn't that so funny? The best part was...he wasn't done yet. After he managed to squeeze out some more, he wrapped his arm around my neck and pulled me towards him and the potty and said "look!" He is so proud of himself....and we are too!

It's the small accomplishments in life that Mommies and Daddies love the very most!

A night 'out' at the movies

In our house, we are always on the look out for fun things to do with the kids that isn't going to break the bank. On Friday night, we came up with a fabulous idea. We could take them to the Drive-In theater. That's right, in our area we still have an old fashioned drive in.

So, we got the kids dressed in their matching Mickey and Minnie PJ's, laid the seats down in the van and covered the back with blankets and pillows. To save money at the concession stand, we popped our own popcorn at home and took candy and water bottles.

The kids were so good. They didn't even try or ask to get out of the van once. They just sat there so good munching on their snacks and watching G-Force 9! :-)

Gauge LOVED the M&M's

as evidenced by the chocolate on his face in this picture.

The cost of the whole evening was only $10 for admission to the movies.
The kids both fell dead asleep about 3/4 through G-Force 9. Mommy fell asleep during the 2nd movie (GI Joe) :-)

Wordless Wednesday: Finally Back

I'll be thankful for it this winter!

On Friday night after work.....we had a daunting task ahead of us. 

We needed to pick green beans if we were going to try and get them canned the next day. There were only a few hours left of daylight and after a full work day...patience was already wearing thin. So, what did we do? We called up my Mother and Father-in-law to see if they could watch the kiddos. I'm tellin' ya, this was the best decision we could have made. Shawn and I sat on our buckets in the garden and chatted and picked about 10 gallons of beans.

His brother stopped by for a visit with us while we snapped. That helped the time go by faster for sure.

We also had these beauties inside in the sink getting clean

On Saturday bright and early, Grandma showed up with pressure cooker in hand to help get the party started. Aren't my beans pretty?

Grandma thought it was funny that I wanted to take pictures and document the whole thing. Told ya I was going to wear my cute little apron all Donna Reed style! LOL :)

Once we got our first batch of beans in the pressure cooker, we started working on our tomatoes. Grandma has the coolest little gadget. It clamps to the side of your table. You put the tomatoes in the top and crank the handle. Your juice/pulp comes out the side and all the skin and seeds come out the front. This made for quick work.

Even Grace got in on the action. How cool is that.....3 Generations of women canning together!!

 My yummy sauce

Cooking away

Here are some of the cans of beans and spaghetti sauce

When we were done with the beans and spaghetti sauce...Grandma had to leave to go home and take care of Grandpa. My mom came over to visit the kids so I got her in on the pickle making action. Remember what I said earlier about 3 generations.....make that 4! Super Cool!

I love the wide mouth jars that my hubby got a fabulous deal on earlier this summer at a garage sale. It was such much easier getting my cucumbers in those jars...and they look beautiful too!

Some completed dill pickles

I had the hardest time getting the lids on my pickles to pop. I followed the directions on the packets and boiled them for 10 minutes. Only about 1/2 popped. So, I put the ones that didn't, back in for another 20 minutes. Some popped right away and other waited until the jars were almost cool before they popped. They all did eventually...thank goodness!

Here is my hard work (minus a few pickle jars waiting off to the side to pop).

15 Quarts of Green Beans

11 Quarts of Spaghetti Sauce

7 Quarts of Dill Pickles

7 Quarts of Sweet Pickles

I had a great time hanging out with Grandma and having her teach me something. She made the comment that she was "proud of me for wanting to learn how to can....most kids your age don't want anything to do with it"!

We still have some beans in the garden that need to grow some more. I think that I will just freeze them when I do my corn!

Doing The Can-Can!

My sweet husband worked so hard to get our garden plowed and planted. He has lovingly weeded and watered all summer and the plants are flourishing. Now it's time to harvest our bounty. But that means we have to do something with all that produce. I have never in my life canned vegetables!! So, what's a girl to do? Call Grandma of course!!

So, tomorrow morning my Grandma is coming over to pass on her canning wisdom to the next generation. I'm excited, yet anxious. The plan is to learn how to can green beans, make sweet & dill pickles, and spaghetti sauce. And, yes I plan on wearing an adorable little apron (all 50's Donna Reed housewife style) that I got for a review on Peanut Butter and Pickle Reviews ;)

Luckily, my Mother-in-law has volunteered to watch our kiddos tonight so we can go pick and snap TONS AND TONS...did I say TONS of green beans!

Wordless Wednesday: The View From My Front Porch

Choo Choo Look Who's Two!

It's is so hard to believe that my baby boy is now 2 years old. It seems like only yesterday we were celebrating our little Monkey's 1st birthday.

Ever since we went to see Thomas Live on Stage, Gauge has been in love with Choo Choo Trains. He even got to ride one on our recent trip to Kentucky.

So we thought that it was only fitting that he have a Choo Choo Look Who's Two Party!
He doesn't love Thomas per say, just trains in general....so we decided to go with the Locomotive Theme. We found Adorable black locomotive plates and napkins.

Here is the Birthday boy with his Papaw

Mommy and her man

I don't know about you, but I'd have to say that this is one good looking family!

Aren't the decorations adorable?

I think there is going to be a lot of "boy" stuff in those bags :-)

Sibling Love

I was so pleased with the turn out. We had tons of people inside...

and more people outside playing cornhole.

Grace was sure that she was going to have to help her "baby brother" blow out his candles. I think he did just fine all by himself! LOL :)

YUMMO!

After cake it was on to the fun part...opening the presents

He was such a good boy

After opening each present, he went around and found that person to give them a hug.

When Gauge was done doing all the work opening the presents....the big kid Shawn decided he needed to relive his childhood and play with all the Hot Wheels!

Gracie enjoyed helping bub play with his new stuff too!

After presents, we all headed outside for some heated games of cornhole while Papaw took all the kids on a train ride.

They had so much fun driving around our field.

The perfect ended to a perfect day!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET BABY BOY!!!