Straw-bale Houses...

I mentioned this subject before, but I really wanted to show what straw bale houses are a little more in depth.  I'm gonna list many links for you to peruse at your leisure and I also wanted to put some of the pictures of really neat straw bale houses I've found.   Maybe I will convert you and then my plan will be complete... mmmmmwwwwaaahahahahahahahaha!   Enjoy.

http://www.strawbale.com/

http://www.balewatch.com/

http://www.strawbalehomes.com/

http://www.strawbalehomes.org/

http://www.greenbuilder.com/dawn/

Goin' for a visit...

This next week we will be going "back home" for a visit.  We are gonna be at my mom's first and then we will be at Sam's parent's.  This year Braden is old enough to go to Vacation Bible School at Meemaw and Peepaw's church! (That's Sam's parents.)  We're really excited for him because providing everything goes according to plan, he will actually get to spend every night during the week at Meemaw and Peepaw's house without us.  Its never been done before.  The most he's been away from us is for two nights and even then he's seen us during the day.  We'll see what happens. :)  We should still have internet access, so I may still get to do a couple of posts, but I may not have time.  I've scheduled a couple of posts so there will still be something new on this blog:)

Brotherly Love

My friend Kristina has this on her blog and I just had to be a copy cat and put it on mine.  Its so cute and funny.

Okay, this is for all of you out there who have lived through the many eras of dance.

The Evolution of Dance

Zekey's Birthday Extravaganza!

Well, Zekey had a good birthday, though it was a very long day.  We woke up at around 7:45. (If its before 8:30, its too early for me...:)  Sam already had Zekers out of his bed and Braden was wide awake bouncing around.  I picked Zekey up and sang happy birthday to him while dancing around a bit.  He loves the dancing around part.  We all got dressed and ready and went to church.  After church was over, we went home and put Zekey down for a nap until we had to get ready to go back to church for a class. We got done with that around 4:30.  Braden and Zekey got to play and Zekey took a nap during that time, which was good.  We made it home and got the pool that we got for Zekey for his birthday out and filled it up.  Its a pretty neat pool.  It pops open and folds up like car sun shades.  You have to blow up the rim, but that's it.  We thought it would be an ideal pool for how we travel.  The boys had a blast.  I think Braden was having more fun in it than Zekers, but I'm sure that will even out.  I was really impressed with how Braden was handling it because he honestly hasn't been in a pool in a long time.  I don't think he even swam in one last summer.  Just sprinkler type stuff.  Anyway, he was dunking his head and having a good time and Zekey was just laughing and carrying on at Braden's antics.  He thought splashing was the best thing ever, but didn't care to stay in the pool the whole time.  He kept getting in and out.  It was very funny.  Then he proceeded to poo in his lil' swimmers.  Yeah, that ended the pool party for the day. :)  We "pressure washed" the pool, cuz...eeeww!  Yeah.  Then we  got the cake out.  **Okay, I have to tell you about the cake.  First of all, Sam said I could get a piping tip set (56 pcs, woohoo!) and a book that has all these different piping patterns and how-tos.  I was soooooo excited!  I'd also gotten some parchment triangles to make bags.  Very convenient!  Well, the cake was a challenge to say the least... This thing just about irritated the mess out of me.  I made it into a several layer cake, but I don't think I let it dry out enough.  It kept sticking to the parchment paper.  When it came time to move it to the cake plate, part of the bottom layer came apart.  I didn't use a cake round and I should have, but I was trying to make it quickly and I didn't want to buy a whole stack of them.  I also didn't have any cardboard available to make my own.  Space issues and all. :) It ended up VERY lopsided.  I put store bought cream cheese icing between the layers and on the top.  I was trying to pair something with the chocolate and should have just used all chocolate. Oh, well.  Anyway, when I put the decorative edging on, it stayed fine until later that night.  Parts of the border kept falling off.  The cream cheese icing wouldn't support the weight of the decorator icing.  At first I was getting all irritated that it wasn't working the way I wanted it to and then my wonderful husband was like, "He's 1, he doesn't care and even later when he sees pictures and stuff, he'll just think it was so great that you took the time to MAKE him a cake!"  (Thanks, BABE!)  For the lettering, I actually used white chocolate bark, melted and colored.  It worked out well, because the balloons and lettering were in effect candy.  Yeah, both boys liked that! **  Okay back to how the day went. We put a single sparkler in it.  Normally, I would put however many for how old and then one to grow on, but just thought the one was good.  We sang happy birthday to him twice because I forgot to get out the video camera and also that's when our digital camera's batteries decided to die.  Zekey really liked it and Braden and Sam helped him blow it out.  Then the fun part.  I gave Zekey the first piece.  He SHOVELED it into his mouth.  I think we have a major cake lover on our hands! I'm thinking he's pretty partial to chocolate, too.  He ate two pieces.  Granted, they weren't huge or anything, but still....  The pictures say it all.  What a big ,fun, yucky mess! The rest of us also had ice cream.  We didn't give Zekers any because of the impending even bigger mess that would have caused.  He gets bites of ours anyway whenever we eat it;)  Sam and I then had to work as a team to get him cleaned up.  I'm surprised more of the cake didn't end up on the floor, but then again he did eat most of it!  We then had a bit of a dance party as Sam was searching for music on iTunes.  Zekey and Braden really like dancing with Mommy, especially when I twirl them around a bunch!  (Today Braden had Zekey in a bear hug twirling around the room saying that he really likes to dance with Zekey.  It was so funny!  They were both giggling quite a bit.)  We really did have a fun day!!  Enjoy the pics.

Happy Birthday, Zekey!!!

Zekey is 1 today!  What an incredible year!  I really can't believe he's already one....  It seems like it has gone by so quickly.  We have truly been blessed with Zekers.  He has been an instrument that God has used to totally change many things in our lives!  He is such a joy!

Zekey is a funny little guy.  He's not ticklish everywhere like Braden is.  He has maybe two spots and they only work if he is in the mood to be tickled!  (That's just so funny to me.)  He sometimes has days when he is a Mommy's boy and days when he is a Daddy's boy, but mostly he just wants us both to be with him.  He makes some of the funniest faces I've ever seen and his laugh is hilarious!  He's very cuddly and loves to give slobbery kisses (he hasn't learned to pucker up, yet:)  He loves his big brother and wants to do everything he does and play like a big boy.  (He drives Bradens cars and trains around and adds sound effects like Braden does.....so cute to watch!)  He's so curious and he learns soooo quickly.  We have to always be on our toes!  He has a very gentle spirit and for the most part is super laid back.  We are so glad you are in our family, Zekes!

Thank you, God, for our precious Zekers!  Thank you for the blessing that he is to all of us. May he be a light and a willing servant for you.  Please show us how to be the best parents we can be so that we will raise him up in the way that he should go.  Please give Zekey your vision for his life and the desire to seek to know you more and more always!  We love you, Lord, and give you all the glory!  In Jesus' holy name, Amen!!!

Happy Birthday, Zekers!!!

One Semester of Spanish Love Song

My friend Emily has again sent me a video I just have to post!  Its very funny.  Check it out and see what you think.

Naptime

Sam gets to come home at around 3pm some days and many times he gets here right before I put Zekey down for his nap.  Zekers has turned out to be a Daddy's boy so far and gets soooooo excited when Sam comes home from work.  He wants Sam to hold him indefinitely, so what ends up happening is Sam lays down with Zekey and they both take a nap.  I took some pictures with my phone and thought I'd share.

Skype...if you love us you will sign up! hehehehehe

So, my friend Michawn has once again enlightened me. (Hi Michawn!) She introduced me to Skype via her family's webpage.  I had been looking for a way to make video calls since we now have a webcam.  I just downloaded it, but I haven't made any calls yet.  I would LOVE it if my friends and family would sign up.  The catch is you at least need a microphone for your computer and if you want to video call you have to have a webcam, too. Other than that, as long as you are a skype member, skype to skype calls are free!  You can also make regular calls from your computer to mobile and land line phones for a cheaper rate than normal, apparently.  I'm going to put the link below and also make a link in my sidebar.  Check it out and let me know if you join so we can talk over the computer.  I really want to try this thing out...especially the video calls!

skype link

Braden's Birthday Extravaganza!

Braden had a really great birthday. When he woke up, he crawled/bounced/wiggled into bed beside me and layed there for a bit until I fully woke up. (This is the normal routine by the way.) Then I sang happy birthday to him and we talked for a little bit until Zekers woke up and made it very clear that our presence was needed. For breakfast I made smiley face chocolate chip pancakes and I put a sparkler in his. He really liked that. Then the most important thing happened. He got to open up his first pair of skates, which he calls skaters. They have three wheels each and for the first stage there are two wheels on the back and one on the front. When he gets really good at it, we'll put the wheels in line like roller blades. Pretty neat skates.:) When he first tried to start skating, I was holding his hand and trying to help him balance. After a whole bunch of flopping around, he finally said, "Mom, I want to do it by myself." So, I let go and off he went just fine and dandy! He kind of shuffles around, but he's doing just great and I know it won't take him any time at all before he's all over the place!  Zekey was having fun, too.  He got this little truck for his birthday (we let him open it early about a week or two ago after getting permission from my mom:) and so he and Braden were both on wheels.

This year we did things a lot differently. Usually I ask him what theme he wants and give him a couple to choose from. This year he chose everything. First he said he wanted a Thomas-Dinosaur cake. Then he got to help pick out stickers for his scrapbook and help pick out the decorations for his cake. I decided that the easiest cake to make is a cookie cake and after over-cooking the first one, I had success the second time around. Most of the time when I make cakes, I really go all out and make everything from scratch and totally stress myself out. I'm telling on myself, I know, but this time, I bought ready made cookie dough, got decorator's icing in white and chocolate from Hobby Lobby, writing icing from Wal-Mart (which I will NOT use again because it was very runny as you can see from the pictures...yuck!), got a little dinosaur scene set from Michaels and used a Thomas train that was on Braden's cake last year! For the grass, I bought a little tip at Hobby Lobby that was specifically for making grass or hair. I totally rigged a piping bag from a ziploc bag, actually several cuz it kept popping out, to do it because I didn't want to buy a piping bag. I thought I could use my Pampered Chef icing decorator and that would be enough. Not so much... Even though I used to be a Pampered Chef consultant and I use and love a lot of their products, this is one that after repeated attempts to use it, I'm NOT loving it. I'd rather use a piping bag and tips. Much more user friendly! Okay, moving on.

We also kind of did everything late this year, too. Usually, I've got decorations, candles, presents, etc all bought and ready to go way in advance. We went to Target and let Braden pick out his present a couple of days before his birthday. That was a first, too. We looked at several things that he has pointed out or mentioned and it came down to a choice between Ratatouille the movie or the roller blade skates. Really it was no contest, he was all into the roller blade "skaters"! It was so funny because he just could not stop talking about his birthday skaters and was telling everyone we passed in the store about it. For the next couple of days he did the same thing to everyone he saw. (He's definitely NOT shy!) He also talked about his train/dinosaur cake, too. He was soooooo excited and asked everyday if it was his birthday yet. So funny...

On his birthday, the second successful cookie cake was made and then I piped all the icing into place and then Braden placed the dinosaurs and Thomas where he wanted them. After we finished, I gave him a paper plate and let him practice piping icing onto his "cake". He really had fun doing that and you can see his masterpiece below.:)

For dinner I asked him what he wanted and originally he said cereal. I was going to let him have that, but when Sam and I decided we wanted an all out breakfast for dinner, he wanted in on that instead! We had biscuits and gravy (Sam makes the gravy and he's so good at it...yummy!), hashed browns, fried eggs, lil' wieners and sausage patties. Mmmmmmmm...excuse my drooling.... Then Braden went outside to show Daddy how he can skate. We were all having a really good time together. Zekey really likes Braden's skates, too. He was trying to get a hold of them every chance he could get, much to Braden's chagrin! He'll be on some soon enough, I'm sure!

Then it was time for the cake. I put five candles on it, one to grow on, of course! I then decked it out with several sparklers. I'm a pyrotechnics expert in training:) We lit it all up and sang happy birthday as Braden tried to blow them all out. It was really fun. There was one sparkler that refused to give up and Braden was determined to see to it that it went out! We all then had some yummy cookie cake, including Zekers, who just started shoving it into his mouth squirrel style. Braden decided he wanted all the dinosaurs and Thomas to be on his piece. It got a little crowded.:) We really just had a great time and Braden really loved being the center of attention for the day. Zekers is up next on Sunday. I think it will be interesting. I'm also going to try and have a little party for both boys when we visit family in a little over a week. Get all the cousins together and have some icecream and cake and play til we all drop. Yay! Okay, as promised, here are pictures....