Summer bucket list

We're looking forward to a fun filled, busy, adventurous, family filled, exciting summer! These are a few our our plans and adventures for the summer;)
1. Vacation Bible School
2. Day at the Paragould water park
3. Fun at the Georgia Aquarium

4. Day at the beach in Gulf Shores, AL 

5. Swimming at Granny & Grandpa's new pool!

6. Bring home our new baby:)
7. Family reunion

8. Camping in the backyard

9. Slumber party with cousins!
10. Evan's Star Wars 7th birthday celebration!
11. Family Vacation to Mountain Home, AR

12. Celebrate our 10th Wedding Anniversary:)

13. Sports & More Camp
14. Nerf gun war at church
15. Growing a large vegetable garden
16. Make lots of blueberry, strawberry, & muscadine jam
17. Crowley's Ridge Nature Center
18. Many trips to the library

19. Swimming and water games in the backyard

20. Get muddy!!!
21. Sidewalk painting!
22. Lots of fun activities with HDBC Children's Ministry!

What activities are you and your family planning to do this summer?

Baby on the way!!

We want to thank the many of you have followed and supported our adoption journey---the past two and a half years! I posted nine months ago about our switch from International to Domestic Adoption. We want to share our exciting news... we got the call we've been waiting for!!! Baby BOY is due this Friday---June 14!!! If all goes as planned, we will get to be there at the hospital for his arrival and bring him home in the next week or so! Life has been BUSY trying to prepare for baby's arrival... cleaning, organizing, freezer cooking, rearranging bedrooms, nesting;) We covet your prayers over the next couple of weeks!!

Please pray for:

• Birth mother--for confidence and peace in her decision, for healthy delivery
• Baby BOY -- his health, and for the 5 hour trip home
• Big brothers (especially baby Samuel) - adjusting to life with baby brother, and for the few days apart from us while we're in hospital
• For our hearts, as we prepare to bring another sweet child into our family. And that we would be able to minister to birth mother through this open adoption.
• The details of paperwork and legal things that go along with adoption.

We'll keep you posted and can't wait to post pictures of our newest little guy!!!!

Little hands painting!!

Evan and Ben have always enjoyed painting... the littlest one is no different! Samuel experienced painting for the first time today and had a blast!!

So excited to paint like big brothers!!

This is so much FUN!

He really knew what he was doing!!

Even used a paint brush!

Can you tell he's having FUN?!

Should I paint myself too?

Painting on paper is fun too!

Really focused on his masterpiece.

Painting belly & paper:)

All of my boys have to paint a goatee like Daddy;)

Springtime beauty and a growing garden

Our family of boys really enjoys getting outdoors; we are blessed to have a beautiful place to play, rest and enjoy each other right here at home! We are very thankful for the beautiful and relaxing setting just outside our back door. The previous owners built a pergola, a swing, and planted numerous beautiful flowers, trees, and a "bamboo forest".

 Our boys love to explore and play in our yard and bamboo forest! Spring is a wonderful time to be outside watching everything grow and bloom. We have decided to grow a few more things in our backyard... a vegetable garden!! We are going full force this year with 4 garden boxes and MANY different types of fruits & veggies! We're hoping for a good crop this year to feed our growing family!

We planted some cooler weather crops a couple months ago, including broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, onions, radishes, beets, spinach, lettuce, and sugar snap peas. While we were not typically a radish eating family, all of us really enjoyed the fresh radishes from our garden! Our salad box with spinach and lettuce has been a big producer--we've enjoyed salad from the garden almost every day! However, the biggest hit in the garden has been the sugar snap peas!! The boys love picking them and eating them right off the plant! I envisioned sugar snap peas in salads and stir fry from the abundance our plants have been producing, but the boys are consuming them so quickly the peas have yet to make it back to our kitchen! 

The unusually cold weather this spring delayed the planting of our summer crops.  We were finally able to get our tomatoes, pepper, beans, and okra in the ground 2 weeks ago.
Our family is really ready for garden fresh tomatoes!!

This peaceful setting is just around the corner from our home, and a favorite stop on our neighborhood walks.

We are thankful for the beauty around us this spring! 

Would love to hear about your family's favorite activities and places in the springtime!

My favorite kitchen appliance

As many of you probably know, I love to cook! Out of all of my kitchen gadgets and appliances, I would have to say my bread machine ranks among my favorites! I enjoy making homemade breads and goodies for my boys. My Sunbeam bread machine helps me bake all of these goodies, while saving bundles of time! Several of my favorite recipes for my bread machine are pizza dough, french bread, Italian bread dough, our best sandwich bread, hamburger buns, and yummy cinnamon rolls. Truth: I only use the machine for the dough cycle. I like to bake my bread in the oven and don't like the rectangle shape of the bread from the machine.

best sandwich bread

Our bread machine has also helped with meal planning on a budget. I can whip up a meal based on one of these recipes. Throw some marinara sauce, cheese, possibly a few other toppings, and my boys are happy for pizza night! A loaf of french bread can be a great addition to soup night, or can be the start of a sub sandwich meal.

hamburger buns - I will never eat store bought buns again!

One of our new dinner favorites is making Stromboli with my best sandwich bread recipe. I make the dough, roll the dough out into rectangle, line with ham (or favorite deli meat) and cheese, roll up and place in greased loaf pan. Bake 30 minutes at 350 and you have dinner!

If we manage to still have some of the bread left a few days after baking, I throw together one of my family's favorites... French Toast! My Granny would make french toast for my sister and I when we spent the night at her house as kids... loved her french toast and think of her when I make my own. I dip the bread in a mixture of eggs, almond milk, and a dash of cinnamon. Cook in cast iron skillet with hot coconut oil and serve hot with powdered sugar or syrup---yummy!!!

Check out my Pinterest board for more bread recipes!

Getting messy in a dinosaur swamp!

Want to give little boys an activity full of creative, sensory, messy, imaginative fun?

 Have fun creating this dinosaur swamp for your little guys (or girls). 

You can use items from your kitchen, house and yard. This week I used green spaghetti (spaghetti cooking in water with food coloring), several types of beans/rocks (pinto, lima, lentils, split peas), rice, large rocks, mint leaves, and toy dinosaurs. Sometimes I add a little of the green pasta water to make it extra messy fun!

 Enjoy watching your little guys play and explore... or go work on those 7 loads of laundry;)

Looking for other ideas for creative indoor play? Check out these other blogs:
Indoor Activities for my stir crazy boys
Cooking like Mommy: Pretend cooking with real ingredients

Indoor activities for my stir crazy boys!

Anyone else super excited about springtime? Even though it is March, this freezing winter weather has made us a little stir crazy and ready to play outside, take walk around the neighborhood, plant our veggie garden, play in the mud, and have lots of fun with our boys OUTSIDE! Here are a few of our fun indoor activities that make these cold indoor day a lot more bearable... even FUN!

Pretend cooking with REAL food is one of the boys favorite messy FUN activities! I blogged about this awhile back, but we enjoyed this great sensory activity this weekend inside with our guys:)

Monster play dough is another great activity for the boys! My 5 and 6 year old guys enjoy creating monsters out of our homemade play dough! I give the boys a mound of play dough, toothpicks, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, buttons, and sit back to watch them create!

I made these felt dress up Mr. Potato Heads for a long road trip last spring, but the boys enjoy playing with these at home too! I glued a solid piece of felt to cardboard and glued the face shape and googly eyes. They each have a bag full of clothes, hats, and facial features to dress up their own Mr. Potato head.

Painting or drawing is always a winner with my creative little guys! 

My boys have such a blast dressing up as one of many superheroes, fireman, soldier, race car driver, Mario & Luigi, and wild animals! I hope the boys never tire of playing dress up! 

And then there is always the option to get outside and build an igloo!! 

How does your family have fun indoors on cold winter days?