Happy 30th Birthday, Cyle!

This year's birthday was slightly more low-key than last year's. Remember the awesome hunting party? (We're going to the cabin to celebrate with family soon...) Cyle had to work midnights so we needed to keep it simple. The kids painted the wrapping paper, helped decorate placemats, and together we made a banner of all the things we love about Cyle.

 Today Clayton made Cyle a bracelet out of a rubberband and paperclips. He even wrapped it himself.

In an effort to make it as special as possible, I pulled out all the stops by making him this ice cream cake.

I'm going to take a moment here to reflect on this culinary spectacle.  It's based on a recipe from Food Network Magazine. Let me just say that it is divine. And I can usually pass on ice cream... chocolate and vanilla ice cream layered with crushed sugar cones, salted caramel sauce, hot fudge sauce and Heath Bar bits. It's topped with more caramel, Heath Bar and sugar cones. It was pure deliciousness. Cyle loved it. We still have 2/3 of it in the freezer, so he can keep enjoying it over the next couple of weeks.

 Levi helped him blow out the candles - we did one for each decade.

While Clarey didn't like any of the added goodness, namely the caramel sauce, hot fudge sauce, sugar cones or candy bits, she did think the ice cream was lick-the-bowl good.

It wasn't much of a celebration, but was exactly what Cyle wanted. We love you, Cyle! Happy Birthday!

Congratulations, Graduates!

This past weekend we celebrated with two very special graduates. My youngest cousin, Olivia, graduated from Notre Dame. We celebrated at her house, mainly by swimming in their pool and eating lots of delicious food. Congratulations, Olivia!

On Sunday, and I thought I had left the camera in the car from Saturday, but had not, we celebrated with Cyle's cousin, Stacy. She graduated from the College of Veterinary Medicine at Mizzou.  Again, we celebrated with her by eating lots of delicious food. The kids had a great time running giant circles with her dog, too. A big congratulations, Dr. Griffard!!

End of the School Year - Goodbye CSYY {sniff, sniff}

Last Wednesday was the boys' last day at Christian School for the Young Years. That morning, I realized it was Clayton's last day of preschool. Preschool! Ever!

Clayton says goodbye to the Green Room...

Levi says goodbye to the Orange Room...

 We gave all the teachers big hugs. (Levi was in no mood to pose with his teachers...)

It's been such a wonderful year. I just feel so blessed that my children were able to grow and thrive in such an inspiring place.

At the May Day picnic at CSYY, Clayton used the camera while I was in the food line. He took some random pictures and a few self-portraits. A budding photographer? Questionable.

I already miss taking the boys to school. Clayton overheard me remark to Mom that after keeping all three busy all summer, I'm going to be exhausted by the time school starts. In all his five-year-old wisdom, he remarked, "Probably sooner." But that's not why I miss taking them to school, well, totally. I miss knowing they'll be experiencing things, interacting with others, and exploring things I'd never think to provide them with here at home. And I miss seeing all the wonderful teachers. We'll definitely keep Christian School in our hearts.

From the Good Ole Days

I read somewhere, one time that dandelions are good for reducing inflammation and helping with itching. I don't know how true this is. But then I saw on Pinterest a pin for dandelion soap and they said something about it helping with itching. Again, I don't know how really true it is. What I do know is that we happened to have approximately 78 dandelions growing in our yard that day. And I do know that Levi had approximately 32 mosquito bites on him that day. And I also know we were desperately needing a project to do. So we picked dandelions.

We boiled them to make an extract. As they were cooking, I asked the boys what they smelled like. "Dandelions, of course!" Levi said. "No, they smell like broccoli!" added Clayton. And he was right. It made me really wonder if I could ever drink a cup of dandelion tea. And it definitely made me wonder how anyone could have ever thought it would taste good as wine.

We took the easy route on the soap making - melt and pour. I had some left over from our dinosaur egg project. We very carefully melted the soap, added in as much of our extract as we could without changing the consistency and then added in dried dandelion flowers that I had saved all spring as Levi had picked them for me. Thirty minutes later we had soap! They've been using it in the bath. While I don't know how much it has helped Levi's itching, we had a good time making it.

 Later that day, as Clarey was sleeping, I discovered 4 cucumbers in the bottom drawer of our refrigerator. They had been on sale and I stocked up. I decided it was time for them to get useful. So we made pickles. With much supervision, the boys very carefully cut up all of the cukes.

I was really impressed with their knife cuts. Levi was especially good at making uniform-sized pieces.

Clayton did a great job keeping his fingers tucked under and gripping the chef's knife properly.

We salted them, made the brine, added in the spices and packed the jars. We only made 3 pints so we didn't go through the process of processing them. It was a great lesson in patience: carefully cutting the cucumbers, waiting for the water to draw out, letting them sit in the fridge for 24 hours before eating. But it was all well worth it. They are delicious. There is only a jar and half left and we've only had them in there for 5 days.

I don't know what we'll do next. Quilt, perhaps. Or whittle.

Smart Start Baseball

The boys had a great time learning the basics of baseball with Cape's Parks and Rec's Smart Start Baseball program. They improved greatly over the 6 weeks we were there. But I think the best part for the boys --- the trophies they got at the end.

Our Month of May

 With the fabulous May weather, we have spent most of every single day outside. We've been catching critters, riding big wheels, drawing with sidewalk chalk. Many of our moments I've not captured with camera...these are random things we've done.

 I walked into the kitchen to find Clayton "doing an experiment."
"What are you experimenting," I asked.
"I'm making a potion. It's really powerful. But don't worry, I'm well protected." So I see.

After an unexpected shower left all three kiddos muddy from head to foot, I put them in the tub at 10 a.m. To liven it up a bit, as if that ever needs to happen, I added in some balloons. Some filled with air, some filled with water and, yes, some filled with glow sticks. I believe I bought these on clearance after Valentine's day for a dime a package for activities just like this.

 Clarey's latest favorite activity is very carefully going through every item in my bathroom. She particularly loves lipstick.

She also loves sun protection.

My kids LOVE pudding for dessert. We have it fairly often. Usually all devour their serving and ask for more. The one evening we had pistachio flavor, Clarey didn't love it so much, but she did think it was really fun to paint with.

Ladies Luncheon

Way, way, way back in April, I helped Mom put together a table for the St. Vincent's Ladies Luncheon. Our theme was vintage schoolhouse and the idea struck us at Emily's adorable baby shower. We recycled a few things from there,  borrowed a few other things and searched through our collection of items to assemble a really cute table. It even won best theme. We had a great afternoon with family and friends.