Summer is delicious.

tomatoes for days

the summer cake

And beautiful.
And HOT.

first. about 70 tomatoes from my father-in-law. my sons love tomatoes. I had to stop the little one from eating the smallish ones after about 4.

second. the strawberry summer cake. I made one, last year, and loved it. I only made it once more since then, so the taste wasn’t fresh in my mind. When I took my first bite…goodness. It was like a sweet pancake with deliciously gooey strawberry jam on top. SO.GOOD.

what foods are you loving this summer?

Color Week: BLUE & PURPLE/VIOLET

bfancypants

bleg

bball

bvase

bwall

bthermos

bmania

bowls

bbowl


p1

p2

p4

These were from Friday and Saturday. The party kind of wiped me out, this weekend. I didn’t get a chance to really search out any purple things, so flowers it is!

FYI–the party was a success!! We all had so much fun. My feet were KILLING ME by the end of the day. I don’t think I sat down all day long! I didn’t even eat until people were leaving already. I was having that much fun. ;)

Color Week: GREEN

green amineko

pachyveria!

g4

green kalachoe

g11

green fuzz

just GREEN

pinata

green washi

SO many shades of green! I love it.

I almost didn’t take these photos. I have been cleaning house all day, preparing for the party on Saturday, and didn’t think I’d make time, but I DID IT. I forced myself to take a break and went outside for some fresh air. Thank goodness. It re-energized me and I think I’ll be able to get through all the laundry, tonight. I also need to finish cleaning the kitchen and then do a quick scrub down of the bathroom. Tomorrow I finish up de-cluttering the living room, dining room, and breakfast room, and then I can put together some party bags, fill the pinata, make some pretzel sticks, get started on the cupcakes, and fix any food that can be done the day before. HIS FRIENDS BETTER SHOW UP. I need lot of people to come so that I will not have done this all in vain!

Loved & Loathed: Olives

loved & loathed: olives

Loved by: My husband and children
Loathed by: ME!

My kids beg for more olives. They can’t just have 1, 2, or 5. They want a truckload. I have to severely limit them, or they’d eat an entire can. I, on the other hand, cannot stand them. I tried. I really, really, really tried to love them. I’ve had many meals made with olives being the main flavoring component and…ugh. Just ugh. My kids get to split any olives I pull off my pizza. Good riddance!

But I’ll continue to buy cans of them just for my boys.

What about you? Do you love them or loathe them?

A Haircut & a Fracture

the last

swoony hair

Those are the last photos of that beautiful long hair. After almost two years of no haircuts, the little one finally got one. He was bribed with a bubble mower (oh he loves it) and talked about the cut for a few days before we took him on Friday. Honestly, I was a little sad about it. I kept finding myself staring at him through Friday evening. I’m warming up to it, though. He’s still pretty darn cute. It will grow back.

Here’s what he looks like now:

happy

point

Saturday was a busy day and it ended with us grilling for dinner. Except not. That wasn’t really the end. See, as I was preparing to serve and my husband was bringing in food, my other son spent a few minutes trying to do some tricks on a soccer ball. ON. THE. BALL. He tried to balance on it and fell. We thought it was sprained, so he got a cold rice pack to hold on it while he ate dinner. He looked pretty pale, so I knew it was really hurting. I gave him some acetaminophen and he said he wanted to go to bed around 8:15.

Fast forward two hours and he yells for us to help him out of bed. His arm hurts so bad he can’t roll out to go to the bathroom. We notice it’s a bit swollen and he can’t extend his arm. Most of the pain is in the elbow, so we make the decision to take him to the ER. A few hours later, we get the official diagnosis of a fractured humerus. Sigh. He’s got his arm in a splint and we have orders to visit an orthopedist this week. It’s a small fracture, but he still might end up in a cast. The worst part is it’s his left arm and he’s a lefty, soooo….time to practice handwriting again. He’s pretty ambidextrous when it comes to sports (throwing lefty, hitting right, etc), so I’m hoping he can pick up at least legible penmanship with his non-dominant hand.

Does anyone have a kid that’s fractured their humerus? Apparently, it’s one of the more common arm fractures for children. They tend to land on their elbows for falls during sports and whatnot. Any advice?? Thanks in advance!

the first fracture

When he saw the splint– “Oh boy, I’m glad I didn’t hurt my Angry Birds arm…”