Watermelon Cake and Movie in the Yard (Year 2)

To see my first post on movies in the yard and watermelon cake, go here.

For my aunt's annual movie in the yard night, I was asked to make another watermelon cake. My first one was such fun, I was absolutely ready to do another one. Watermelon cakes have exploded in popularity and it's such fun to see how simple fruits turn into beautiful creations.

I ran into a serious setback this year. I cut open my watermelon, which I had spent entirely too long selecting, and found this.

Rotten. Ick. It was nothing but mush inside. When I went to shift it, half the insides went splat on the floor. I'm sure I said a word or two my daughters hopefully didn't hear.

After a quick phone call and a replacement watermelon, I got the rest of the fruit ready since I'd assemble the cake at my auntie's house. 

I can't remember where I got these cookie cutters, but I use them all the time to cut sandwiches and fruit into cute shapes. They're a hard plastic that takes the abuse of thick food. I figured out that if I sliced the cantaloupe from the outside headed inwards, I got slices that were big enough to do several shapes at a time.

As I was putting the cake together people started arriving so it was kind of fun to answer questions. I threw a bit of this and that wherever looked good while I was chatting. For this cake I used a little over half a watermelon and we still had leftover slices.

Sage Muffin was determined to get some of the fruit as I was putting it together. She'd wiggle in between my legs and the counter to push me away and then try to climb up to get to the cake. Lily was off and running as usual and I don't think I got a single picture of that girl the whole night. 

So there you have it. Watermelon cake version 2.0. It was delicious and the younger kids loved the skewers of fruit. Sage ate berries and watermelon and cheetos until I thought she'd be sick. Lily spent the entire movie whispering and eating candy with her cousins. There was tubs of popcorn and pickled cucumbers and fresh garden veggies and.. and...too much food. Too much delicious, tasty food.

Due to nasty weather, the movie was not actually on the yard. Instead we all loaded into the garage. It was kind of cozy. 

It doesn't look like it in this picture, but there was quite a few of us! (You can see my rainbow bag on the floor next to my chair! It fit two blankets, diapers, some yarn, and a couple other things!) We watched Wreck-It-Ralph. There is one line that just makes me snicker every time. "All right ladies! The kitten whispers and tickle fights stop now!" Hee hee hee. If that doesn't make you at least snort, I don't know what to do with you. 

Much fun, much food, and late nights. It was the perfect end to summer. I start school on Monday....

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Moose Babies.

Summer is in full swing at my house. What about your's?

We have had water days and play dates and kid crafts and movie nights.....Going, going, going! It's so much fun to be busy when it revolves around your kids and stuff you want to do. I've read 15 books already this summer. I've crocheted every single day. I've painted with my kids and done science experiments. It's so much fun! I've got my Super Mom cape on and I'm swinging it with some serious sass. 

Yesterday, we had an opportunity that is currently holding #1 in the list of our adventures. We road tripped to see twin baby moose, play with chickens, and stare at some gorgeous scenery. The kiddos were in heaven. I must admit, I was pretty over the moon as well.

Aren't the Grand Tetons beautiful? Sometimes I feel like, "Crap. I live in Idaho." Then I see mountains or landscapes like this and I'm like, "YEAH. I LIVE IN IDAHO!!!" Which undoubtedly makes me a redneck of some sort. I'm learning to live with that.

Now I've promised to not say exactly where, when, or why, but I can tell you that there are some people out in the world who have gone above and beyond to take care of these babies. They took in these little twins after the mama moose was found dead. Doesn't that just tug on the heart strings? They're caring for them until the moose can be taken to new homes.

 

We didn't actually pet these little babies, but Lily did get pretty close to one in the barn. The lamb in the picture kept following her around. Lily was in heaven running around after goats, lambs, ducks, and chickens. She'll be revving on this for weeks. 

Sage Muffin spent some time sitting on the fence and making animal noises. She's almost got chickens and sheep down. 

Lily and Sage were also able to feed some chickens. Sage "bock bocked" and would chase after them. Lily kept throwing out crumbs and jumping back like she was going to get eaten. Hehe. Side note: I freaking love chickens. I want a coop. I want smelly little fluff balls that I can name and walk around the yard. Makes no sense to me either, but I really, really want chickens someday.

I wasn't able to get a picture of both of the moose in one picture. Opportunity lost. All in all, a fantastic family fun filled night. Now we've got the fourth of July tomorrow... one of Lily's favorite holidays. I expect to eat too much, get sunburned, and get cranky at the fireworks going off at 2 in the morning like I do every blessed year. Happy fourth of July!!! 

Hello, stranger.

Well, I feel like I should be grinning sheepishly.

October flew to November which sprinted towards Christmas and smacked right into the new year. Talk about time getting away from me right?

I would say that my new year's resolution is to blog more, but that seems cheeseball to me. So I'll just say, I hope I get more time to be around here more throughout the new year. ;)

Decemeber was one crazy month with Christmas. I handmade almost all of the gifts I gave away. I made 10 scarves, 12 dishclothes, 6 dish scrubbers, 2 baby toys.... I lost count. This was all done in a mad dash rush over the last two weeks before Christmas while I was also battling finals... go me!

Also, 4.0 GPA, who rocks it? Yes, that's right. I do.

Now I have 10 days until school starts again, and I plan on being a craft-o-crazy mama for most of it. I am all about crochet lately. I think I've settled on it being my favorite...for at least the next little while. I'm blowing up Pinterest with crochet pins, but it's probably better than all that bacteria and virus pinning I was doing for awhile there right? ;)

I have a big project in the works, and a few little ones that I've completed that I would love to show you! I'll see what I can do about being more blog friendly!

Smorgasbord-orgishboard!

It's two days after the fair has ended, and I still feel like I am seeping grease from my pores.
It's a darn good thing that the fair is only one week out of the year, otherwise my body would shrivel up and beg for mercy.

I was able to go down twice. Once with my happy family and my mom, once with just my mom. Both times We conquered the food court like it was a life mission. Red velvet funnel cake. Scone nuggets. Fried green tomatoes (!!!) and candy apples. I think that's the real reason we went back the second time, just to make ourselves sick again.

While we chewed on fair food, Sage happily chewed her stroller. Yes, I tried to feed her human food, but she's like the little sister from Lemony Snicket. She chews everything.

I loved seeing the quilts and the photographs. Food, pretty things to look at, animals to coo over. I freaking love fair week. I was rather giddy that two of my friends took ribbons for their photographs! How sweet is that, right? I have awesome friends. Some of the quilts made my eyes go all bulgy out of my head. Not in a choking-on-delicious-fair-food kind of way, but in the whoa-that-is-amazingly-beautiful way.

I really loved this snowflake quilt I saw. It had hundreds of tiny rhinestones sewn on it. This quilt was INTENSE.I didn't bother taking a picture of it, it would have done an injustice to the quilt. I did get a quick picture of another blanket I liked. I want to make this. How do I make the little circles? Anyone?

My favorite animals to look at are the chickens. Yes, the chickens. I am obsessed with chickens. I want a chicken coop and I want chickens. This guy was my favorite. When I have chickens, I will have one that looks like this for pure comedic entertainment.

Lily got to ride a few rides and pet some rabbits. My daughter consistently asks when the fair is throughout the year. She's like her mama. Loves it. We rode the merry-go-round together and she was so very proud of her "most beautiful pony in the world!" She also sang the fair song from Charlotte's Webb the whole ride.

"The fair is a veritable smorgasbord - orgisbord... after the crowds have ceeeeeased!!!"

Like I said, way too much fun. I should be recovered from all the food about the time the next one rolls around. Oy. Too much foods!

Five years ago, I had the best day.

My five year wedding anniversary was a bit wonky this year.

It was spent on planes, traveling home from Virginia. Oddly enough, Nic and I have had several anniversaries spent on vacation with my family. We have only had one or two where we did the traditional dinner or whatever.

This year, since five years is kind of like a first milestone, I decided to do something neat.

I found a wonderful lady who was able to recreate our wedding cake top layer for us.

See, my wedding cake was the best wedding cake ever. Seriously, I'm not joking.

Yep, those are mushrooms and ferns and acorns and mossy green loveliness. Nic loved our cake as much as I did, which made it even more awesome.

Here's the recreation, five years later.

Pretty close, no? If you have need of a cake, contact Julie. She's amazing.

Also, it was delicious.

My wedding was so fun and simple. We had it in my mother's back yard, a perfect setting for a small ceremony and reception. I decorated the arbor set up myself. On my wedding day. I'm a detail oriented type person, so it wouldn't do to have had anyone else do it. Plus, how fun is it to decorate for such a happy day?

The hubster and I are not formal issue type people. We wanted to be comfy and wanted the same for everyone else. The groomsmen wore shorts and my ladies wore flipflops! Casual, but beautiful.

Remember how I said I liked details? My bridesmaids had contrasting flowers against their tops. Then the ribbon contrasted the flower and the top. I did that on purpose. Hehe. Assigning flowers probably drove the ladies crazy, but it was worth it.

Lily was so excited to be in my wedding, I had her walk me down the aisle. Look at her chubby little cheeky face! Awwwwww! She looked gorgeous. I had made her a ribbon headband to wear in her pretty hair and she thought that was so neat. I also let her carry my tossing flowers as she walked down the aisle with me. Being two at the time, she thought she was pretty special.

Our food was fantastic, we made it all ourselves. (Thanks mom!) We had a candy bar that was a super big hit with all the kids that were there. We had to have a wedding in fast forward because it rained. We also had the sounds of a rock concert serenading us since I forgot that it was taking place on the same day and less than a mile away.

I would have changed a thing. It was perfect for us. Now that my sister is engaged, it's fun to compare how she wants her dream wedding. Totally opposite from mine and it will be just fabulous. I love weddings!

Happy anniversary husbandy face, love of my life! Here's to 500 more years of being married to the best guy ever!

Beachy vacation pictures part three.

So as part of our stay in Virginia beach at the house of wonders, we got a family photo session down at the beach.

Neato frito, right?

Seeing as how that portion of my family hadn't had a group shot in years and there were three more children added into the mix, it was perfect timing.

My mom, who is also an amateur photographer, took some pictures herself while we were down there.  These are all her photos, and they're so pretty!

My pretty baby Sage was just tickled by her soon to be uncle Mike. She was smiling and laughing. I adore this one. What a smile.

Nic and Lily took a walk down by the beach and my mom managed to grab some candid photos of them. They are so cute when they are in their own special world together. I swear, those two have their own secret language. Makes my heart happy.

Here's the one of all of us. Didn't it turn out great!?!?! Nice and simple, but I love the grass and sand in the background. She did an amazing job. I can't wait to see what the actual photographer turned up with. It will be great to have the family photo of all of us too.

Well, that's all the vacation photos I have to share! Now it's off to prepare for the first day of school (for me) tomorrow! Lily doesn't start for a week. Nic should have an interesting week at home with both our girls while I'm off expanding my knowledge and whatnot! :)

Vacation of the beachy sort part two.

Ok, forgive me.

In the craziness that is back to school prep, I have about four different posts I need to get done.

So I'm going to get right on that instead of packing up my school bags for tomorrow. :) Priorities, right?

There's plenty of time to play with binders in a bit.

So back to the beach... (I wish I was still there!)

The one big excursion we had was to the Virginia Aquarium. I never miss a chance to see fishies.

Haha, look at my little hippie family! Too bad I wasn't it tie dye. It would have been perfect! This was the coolest tunnel thingy. Each triangle had a lighted picture with a reflective mirror above and to the sides. End result was a visual overload of wonder.

Nic's favorite animal was the komodo dragon. He keeps telling me he'll have one of these as a pet someday and I keep telling him they're endangered and it's illegal to own them. I try and placate him and tell him we'll get a tortoise of some sort, but it's only have way successful.

We saw lots of sharks. Grr. It's funny that it was also Shark Week. Lily was full of shark talk after watching some of Shark Week and seeing real live sharks. It's a wonder she wasn't terrified of them.

Lily thought sitting on the dolphin was super cool. Going on excursions with this little lady is an exercise in... well... exercise. Trying to keep up with her is exhausting, but totally worth it. She actually asked if this was once a real live dolphin. Uh, no dearie.

I am a turtle fanatic. It's no coincidence that all of the souvenirs I bought had turtle something. This guy was really cool. I had never seen an albino turtle before.

I can't decide if Auntie Alli or Lily was more excited to see a Dory fish. (Just keep swimming... just keep swimming...just keep swimming swimming swimming...)

JELLYFISH! Yay! So cool. The tank was lit up with black light and they GLOWED. I was in awe.

Nic can keep his dragon, I want one of these guys. Aside from the fact that my dream is slightly more realistic, these lionfish are just freaking awesome. Toxic, yes. Wicked? Absolutely. I have about 10 pictures of these guys on my phone.

Lastly, this lobster was gi-normous. He was as long as my arm. Talk about one expensive lobster dinner....haha. I kid, I kid.

And for the finale, one more of my happy hippie family. Ha! I love that Sage passed out holding her bottle in her mouth. Poor little girl was just too tired from all the excitement!

We got the chance to pet sting rays too, but I missed out on pictures of that. Lily was quite proud of herself. I thought they felt like wet jello.

All in all, totally worth leaving the beach for a day.

I have one more set of vacation photos to post, another about my FIVE year wedding anniversary, and the big reveal about the sheet yarn. I'll get caught up eventually. I might also be surprising you all with a guest post at a fellow bloggy mama's little slice of the interwebs. Neat!

Welcome home!

Woo. Vacations are so very lovely. Especially when they are beachy vacations!

Traveling with kids is not for the faint of heart. I've heard that before, but it bears repeating. Flying across country with a baby is killer work on the arms and shoulders. I felt like I was run over by a truck at the end of travel days. However, it could have been a lot worse. My kids actually did fine. Lily had never flown before and she did great. She got her travel wings and ate peanuts. Both of these things are apparently high up on the list of coolest things ever.

We spent a wonderful, blissful, relaxing in Virginia. We stayed in this HUGE house in Sandbridge. Need a place to go relax? Go there. It's beautiful. I could hear the ocean from my bedroom. There was a hammock to snooze in.

Our house had its own pool, was 2 minute walk to the beach, and large enough that it didn't feel crowded with ten adults and six kids. Lily was the oldest, I might add. Every day was crazy in a fun insane type of way.

The area we were in was nice and tucked away from any major tourist trap boardwalks or crap like that. I'm so not that type of vacationer. There was a boardwalk in Virginia Beach, but it was kind of nasty. Sandbridge was much prettier.

Every morning, after waking up about 7am, we would feed kids, throw on swimsuits, and head down to the beach. The kids set out to dig a big hole each morning. Sometimes we would return back to the same hole and keep going. The largest hole got deep enough to have my tall Lily girl drop out of sight.

Once the kids got tired of the beach, we headed back to the house to laze at the pool. Well, as much as six children who all love swimming would let us. I was so tickled to find out that Sage is a water baby! She LOVED playing in the water. She would cry and grump every time I took her out.

Lily was a bit more timid, but by the end of the first two days she would get her head wet and swim in the deep end by herself. She created a game called "fishie fishie" and I think she jumped off the side at least 100 times. The kids had a synchronized jump-a-thon that was hilarious. Counting to three at the same time seems to be difficult at that age range. Hee.

I have so much more to share! We had a wonderful time at the aquarium, took some great family pictures on the beach, and lost our luggage on the ride home! I'll share more pictures soon! 

P.S. I haven't forgotten that I left you hanging about my sheet yarn surprise, and that unveiling is coming soon! I got distracted by vacation. Ha!

Play dates, painting, and pictures of tiny roosters!

There has been much play going on lately at our happy house. So much play, that this Mama bear hasn't gotten much time to herself to simply sit. It seems like summer is determined to move at the speed of light, so I am trying to cram every bit of fun in that I can. So far, I seem to be exceeding my own expectations because I am dead tired at the end of each day. We have had a couple of fun adventures with a few more in the works.

We had a play date trip to the local dairy farm, Reeds Dairy. Hubs and I took the girls and met with a few other mamas and kiddos to play in the sun and visit some animals. (My dear spouse has no problem being the lone dude at a mom and kid party.) The dairy had a picnic area complete with petting zoo.

Lily loved the calves, especially the one that decided she was lunch and kept licking her.

I loved the chickens as it is a dream of mine to one day have a chicken coop. There was one tiny rooster that Nic was positive he could fit under his shirt and take it home.

Sage was absolutely fascinated by the pony, even though her dad didn't really care for the smell. She promptly fell asleep after we left the pony area and slept the rest of the time. Hee.

 The dairy also has an ice cream shop with the BEST grilled cheese sandwiches ever. Nic is now on a mission to try convince me that we simply MUST have the dairy milk delivered now because it is oh so delicious.

The other really fun thing this past week was Lily's art class. She is loving this class and I am sad that it only has one session left. I am looking into finding other art classes for her to take during the school year. Harder than it sounds where I live. Unless I just have no clue where to look. Hmmm...

Lily's class was about watercolors this week. They played with different techniques to use when painting with watercolors, like using salt and crayons for resistance. Then they used those techniques to paint a picture of a place they liked. Lily chose the beach since our much awaited beachy vacation is just a few short weeks away.

Lily really liked playing with the watercolor markers and different blues for the sky. She also has to take the elevator down after every class. :)

The class is in the upstairs of our local gallery, and a new showing, Environmental Considerations has just started. It is full of large canvases, bright colors, and neat sculptures. Totally up my alley artistically. I'm a free spirit by nature, and I like my art the same way. The two artists are very talented and if you live in my area, you should stop by and check it out.

I was pretty impressed with Lily's take on the paintings in the gallery. She asked a lot of questions, wanting to know what they were and how they were so big. She actually considered the art, even though she didn't quite understand it. It was a fun little mom and daughter date and she wants to look at it again after her next class. I love that she is so interested in different types of art and wants to be an artist when she grows up. It's an obsession that takes after my own heart.

We have a busy week coming up and if I make it through, it will be a blast. Dance class, gymnastics, Princess Dance Camp, a pedicure for me (YAY!!!!), fundraiser lunch, baby shower (making a gift for the mama-to-be) and a few other things I'm probably forgetting. It's right about now that I REALLY miss coffee.

Watermelon cake and movies in the yard.

When I saw the all fruit cake over at See My Footprints, I fell in love. What an amazing alternative to sugar and frosting. It's been pinned so many times, but I couldn't really find anyone else who had tried it!

When my aunt asked me to bring a treat for her Movie in the Yard night, I knew what I was going to make.

Movie in the Yard night is a winner of an idea for some summer evening fun. It's like the drive-in, only on lawn chairs and blankets. They had a projector and screen set up complete with popcorn, candy, and other yummy snacks. We watched Despicable Me, a movie I will never get tired of.

"It's so fluffy, I'm gonna DIE!!!"

*snicker*

Anyway, so here's my cake made of watermelon and other assorted fruity magic.

The cake done at See My Footprints had the rind removed, but because there was going to be lots of kids and dark, I decided to leave the rind on. I also wanted it all sliced for ease of snacking. So I sliced a whole seedless watermelon and then rearranged the slices in staggered tiers just to make it look pretty. I used strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, and kiwi to decorate my cake.

As you can see, it was a little lopsided. I messed with it forever and just finally gave up. So the advice from me would be to make sure you cut your slices really, really straight. Doing the decorating was seriously the best. I think I ate as much fruit as I put on  the cake because it was all so fresh and tasty.

Lily helped me cut out the cantaloupe shapes. I found some plastic flower and heart cookie cutters in two sizes that I had bought to fancy up her peanut butter sandwiches. (Side note: has anyone else noticed that a simple PB&J with a bag of chips is not a cool enough lunch anymore? I should have never shown Lily the lunches over at Meet the Dubiens.)  As long as the melon wasn't more than about 3/4 inches thick, they handled it just fine and Lily could help. I would love to find some smaller cookie cutters that would work for the kiwis. 

I had absolutely no plan when it came down to a "design" for the cake. I am, and always will be, a woman who works better just winging it. The key here, is lots and lots of toothpicks. Which was handy because people re-used them as they were picking off fruit. I probably went a bit overboard with the toothpicks, but only because I had to transport the cake in the car and I did NOT want anything falling apart. 

It was a total hit. I was told it was adorable, a wonderful option for those on diets, and that I was very talented. Seriously, all the compliments were making my head swell. See My Footprints did her cake for her child's 1st birthday as an alternative to real cake, which I think is so very smart. Although, I do love a good messy toddler playing in cake at a party. There are several other versions of cakes that she has done as well. Check them out!

And there you have it. Watermelon "cake" that tastes delicious. I love finding new recipes and foodie projects for big group get togethers. With a huge family, it's good to have these things in your back pocket! ;) If you ever need a summer party idea, I'm telling you, try the movie outside idea. All you need is a projector and something to use as a screen. Oh, but watch out for ditches. Haha. Some of the boys were catching frogs and I suddenly had a very muddy, very wet Lily on my hands shortly before the movie started.   I was lucky to have an aunt who was nice enough to run home and grab a change of clothes so Lily didn't freeze. It wouldn't be a night out if Lily didn't do something crazy!

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