my favorite summer time cake

i am a cake kind of a gal. i love sweet treats (more than i should of course). and this is my current favorite summertime cake. i got it from the ivy bake shoppe cookbook that my m.i.l gave to me a few years ago. it is full of super yummy recipes. if you are in the nauvoo area a trip across the ft. madison bridge to visit this delightful shop would be a pleasant treat for your taste buds.

mandarin orange cake

1 yellow cake mix (+ 1\2 cup flour for high altitude)
2/3 c vegetable oil
1/2 c sugar
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 9oz can mandarin oranges with juice

frosting
1 small box instant vanilla pudding
1 c crushed pineapple with juice
1 12oz container cool whip, thawed
i usually make a double batch of frosting b\c my family loves it so much

mix all the cake ingredients together and beat for 2 minutes on high. pour into 2 greased and floured 9" round cake pans. bake at 350 for 25/30 mins. set aside and cool completely

for the frosting, mix the pudding and the crushed pineapple together and beat for 2 minutes on medium speed. fold in whipped topping, stirring carefully. assemble cakes with frosting between layers.

yum!

curse you little mermaid

for 2 decades this scene
has taught improper table manners

to lots of innocent little girls. shame, shame, shame

who would of thought

that these things would bring hours of entertainment???

we were in the store. brendan had a friend that was spending the night with him and they spotted these things. instantly the begging started. please oh please oh please. i absolutely hate how they line the checkout isles with all this crazy kid tempting stuff. and by the time you get to the checkout your so worn down from saying no 50 times already, it really isn't even a fair fight. so the kids won that round. i thought for sure that they would play with them for 20 mins at the most and then move onto something else. not true!! they played with those silly things all night and then started up with them first thing in the morning. so - if you are looking for a good, cheap summer entertainment item, may i recommend the squirmies. it's great nonmessy fun. a hit with all ages. true the older kids will understand how to get it to do tricks better than the little ones but the little ones can take it on walks and pet it. just be careful of the eyes, they are easily pulled off by little hands. not that we would know or anything...... lily would never defile a squirmie like that.

growing up

as a child i always heard my parents and other adults talk about how fast time flies. and how kids grow up so fast that it seems like you blink and one day they are teenagers. i always thought that they were a little bit crazy. but now i totally see what they were talking about. yesterday was brendan's 5th grade continuation. i can't believe it's time for middle school! and as i sat in the crowd yesterday and looked at his class i traveled back in time and remembered with such clarity their faces as little kindergartners. a majority of his class is kids that we have known since the very begining of school. i couldn't believe how much they have all grown and how mature they are starting to look. to be honest it was a little bit scary. the first 6 years went so fast. are the next 6 years going to go as fast or faster?? before i know it we will be attending a real graduation. i can't even begin to wrap my brain around that one. watching your kids mature is such a bizarre yet fascinating part of life. i find myself unsure about certain parts of parenting at this age. and i feel bad because i think that poor brendan is kind of our parenting guinea pig. let's try this and hope it's the right thing. if not we'll do better on the next one. crazy, crazy stuff.

brendan loved his teacher this year. she taught the kids a couple of subjects last year so a good relationship was already established. the ceremony itself was orchestrated well. they sang about 4 songs, one of which was "the wind beneath my wings". the song had barely started when i looked up to see brendan getting teary. he was looking right at me and the tears just started to flow. which of course caused me to get all weepy as well. then, as if it wasn't bad enough, they had the kids bring roses down to one of their parents. that turned the tear level up a notch or two. so basically brendan and i shared tears though the entire song. even now, thinking about it the tears are starting. he is such a special and sweet kid. i know that i am his mother so i'm biased but he really and truly is one of a kind.

at the end of the ceremony larry was going to take a picture of just me and the kids and then this really sweet lady that we didn't know offered to take a picture of us. i didn't realize until we got home that brendan's eye's were closed but that's ok. i'm grateful to her for being kind enough to lend a photography hand.

that is not poo

i've had a blood blister on my finger for the last several days. lily just noticed it yesterday and is completely obsessed with it. this is our conversation over and over and over again

"mommy there's poo on your finger. you need to go wash it off"

"no lily it's not poo, it's an owie"

"it looks like poo to me. let's go wash it"

twenty minutes later, we start it all over again. kind of reminds me of the movie groundhog day.

way to go!

several years ago brendan got to know the principal of his school really well. their first meeting occurred after he and a friend decided to turn their yogurts into volcano's at lunch. that was one of those things where you had to stifle the giggles while discussing why that was not an ok thing to do. the next meeting occurred once again after food flew in the lunch room. and we also had our fair share of talks with various teachers about not talking out of turn, that kind of stuff. those were the days..... now he brings home awards for citizenship and as of last friday "best behavior". he's come a long way baby!!

the thing i like the most about this particular award is how he earned it. in the past, after assemblies his teacher was disappointed to hear kids talk about how shocked they were at who won which award because john doe picks on kids at recess or says mean things to so and so. things that the teacher doesn't see or hear about. so she decided that for the last assembly of the year she would let the kids nominate each other and then she would pick the actual winners. and for his award she informed me that he got a majority of the votes. awards were also given out for citizenship and the coveted spirit of the valley. the kids that won those awards are at my house two\three times a week. it's nice to know that my son is running with such good company. it's a blessing that he has such good friends. and not just those two, all of the friends he brings home are kids that i am glad he hangs with. i just hope that when middle school starts and his class triples in size, some of those old friends are around. a friend of mine that already has a son in middle school says that makes all the difference. it's a little bit scary. but hopefully if they aren't around he'll continue to use good judgement when making friends. he is such a good kid and we are so proud of him!

Peek - A - Boo

Where oh Where is Lily??
There She IS!!!

larry was building a cabinet over the weekend and lily thought it was the coolest thing in the world to play in. for christmas this year we are just going to get her a bunch of boxes and a few cabinets. it will keep her busy for WEEKS!!

PS - don't you like the striped shirt and plaid shorts? she has taken to dressing herself lately. at least the color schemes are the same

storm chasers

i have always wanted to be a storm chaser. you know, those crazy people that drive towards a tornado instead of away like a smart person. well - today we had a crash course in storm chasing and i gotta say that if i could do it without my kids - IT WOULD TOTALLY ROCK!

so here's the deal. due to a little drama we were running a little bit late to church. right as we put everyone in the car the tornado sirens start going off. larry steps out to the street to check things out and says that he doesn't see anything but the sky looks really ominous. we decide to go ahead and head towards church. as soon as we hit hampden, which for those of you that don't live around here the road is less than 2 miles from our house, we see a funnel cloud. it was so awesome! we could see it from dip down from the clouds and slowly extend it's slender finger towards the ground. we pulled off to the side of the road and just watched it form and change shape. it would get closer to the ground and then pull up and then stretch back out again getting closer and closer to touching down. then we actually saw a little debris cloud for a couple of seconds before it pulled back up. while larry and i are thinking this is one of the coolest things we have ever seen all three girls are crying hysterically begging larry to drive as fast as he can away from it. so we decided to head back toward the house and get everyone under cover in the basement.

these are the shots of the funnel cloud from our back yard. the storm did move on further down the road where it touched down and caused some damage. which of course is not so cool. i wish that we would have had our camera with us in the car because the view we had was AMAZING! i think my next career choice will be a storm chaser ;)

milestones and awards

last week was super busy for us and full of exciting things. first, bella was awarded the citizenship award for her class. she was so excited! her teacher nominated her because she is always kind and sweet to others and in general is a friend to everyone. she also displays a positive attitude in the classroom. it was a great way for bella to end her school year. brendan also received the same award a couple of years ago (before bloggland). this recognition means so much to the kids. and as a parent it's nice to get some positive feedback.

next was brooke's preschool graduation! it doesn't seem possible that it's time already to send her off to school. but she's ready. i can't believe how much she has grown and matured over the last year. she is going to love kindergarten.
the only sad part is that all her little friends are either on a different track than she is or they are on the same track but in the afternoon. so she is going to be a lonely little fish in the big K pond. BUT i am confident that she will make new friends and that it will all be ok. and if not, well then it could prove to be a long year. really though i am not worried. she has a lot of charisma that one does.

brooke and ms tara. i know brooke is going to miss seeing you twice a week. thanks for everything!