Stuck like Chuck

(excuse this awful quality of pic, its off of my phone:)

This morning was by far one of the most interesting mornings I've had in a while.

I was up late packing for our vacation and getting everything done so I decided to sleep in late (yeah right:) and wait for my kiddos to wake-up this morning.

Laney Rae is my early riser and is usually up around 7 am. However, this morning she decided to be an even earlier riser and wake at 6 am. CRAZY! She is the spitting image of her daddy.

However, if she wakes up before me she WILL NOT come and wake me up- miss independent!

This morning, I wake up from a deep hard sleep hearing this sweet little voice saying,"haaaaaiiiir," in the most high-pitched yet soft voice humanly possible for a scratchy voiced two year old.

I threw the covers off of me and leaped out of bed.

At this point, I had ZERO coffee in my system.

I went into the kitchen and found that Laney Rae had pushed her high chair over to the counter top and climbed up onto the counter top.

She chose this particular area because it happens to be where I keep a treat jar filled with small pieces of candy. Laney Rae decided she was going to have gum and smarties for breakfast.

The nook also happens to be home to a hanging fly strip. We've accumulated quite the volume of flies here on the farm. I guess it comes with the territory! Gross!

I can't stand flies in my house buzzing around me. Thus, the fly strips come in handy and are working quite nicely.

*I do take them down if we have guests. That would be SOOOO not right.*

I walked up to her and in her sweet raspy voice she said,"Hair stuck momma."

You think?!?!?

As Laney Rae was leaning over to get candy from the jar (see jar in photo by her feet:), she leaned right up against the fly strip. The strip was stuck all in her hair and still hanging from the ceiling!

Have you ever touched one of these suckers???? The goo does not come off easily....on purpose.....so unsuspecting flies will not come off. That is the point!

This momma panicked and called farmer Jason who breaks the news gently to me that I MAY have to cut her hair off and out of the fly strip. Gee, that's what I want to hear!

I start envisioning the hairstyles- with goo or a splotchy shave job???

The choice is difficult and weighing heavily on me.

Keep it or shave it off???

At this point, I think that Laney Rae's beautiful hair as we know it, is gone forever. I tend to think the worst in situations like this. And the lack of coffee in my system clouded my thought process even more.

I hang up the phone and say out loud,"This is bad. This is very very bad."

I grabbed the bottle of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) and drench her hair with this stuff and massage it all over.

At this point, we had a greasy mess! I thought my beautiful 2 year old girl was going to FOREVER look like The Fonz from Happy Days with his greasy-haired self and white v-necked t-shirts. I could see the Halloween costume flashing before my eyes- leather jacket and all!

Panic starts to come over again. And I thought to myself,"Now, what have I done?"

I bent her head over and started washing it out with dish soap to cut the grease. And then we waited for it to dry to see what the end result was going to be!

I'm happy to report that all is well. The fly strip is in the trash, the candy is behind cabinet doors, I've had two cups of coffee, and Laney Rae's hair is back to being beautiful!

Now we can depart for vacation without goo-filled hair or a splotchy shave job.

My only regret is not grabbing my GOOD camera to capture the whole thing! But, who has time to even think about a photo session in an awful moment like this.

Thanks my wonderfully crazy Laney Rae for making my morning and my entire life- for that matter- exciting! Life wouldn't be the same without you.

Oh, and she got a spanking for eating candy for breakfast and climbing up on the counter top. After that, we had a good laugh about the whole thing!

Lesson to be learned.....

You always get caught- one way or another!

It looks as though............

we have a thumb sucker on our hands.

Little Ms. Ruthie is loving her thumb these days and I can't do a darn thing about it.

Well, I could. But why would I want to?

I think its pretty cute. And its really awesome in the middle of the night. Instead of her needing a paci fix when hers falls out, she just pokes her thumb in her mouth and she is good to go. Awesome!

I know that when she gets older, we will have to work on this and most likely end up wearing THESE (I've heard great things about these guards, by the way:).

But, in the meantime I will just leave her be. She is the baby......my baby. And I'm okay with this.

Watch this and smile:)

You must see this! This video is popping up all over, but just in case you haven't seen it, here it is!

This makes me smile!

{tHe GaRdEn} & Rae Rae

Laney Rae walking to the garden

Our garden had a slow start this year. We were focused on lots of things when planting time came around this year.

We thought we were going to try our gardening skills using the square foot gardening method this year, but apparently you have to buy good dirt for that. I, however, was unwise with our dirt choice. A truckload full of sand mulch showed up, dumped it in our front yard, and off he went.

Gee, thanks for the sand mulch mister!

We had to re-do our entire garden set-up. Maybe next year we will try it again. I'm still hopeful. I just hate weeds! I've heard that using square-foot gardening, there are virtually no weeds ever! So, I'm all about that.

***Notice how I'm saying "we" a lot? I just noticed that. Clearly I was not involved much in gardening since I had a watermelon-sized tummy and shortly after that a newborn with a sore tummy. Jason and Aunt Debbie are the backbones behind the garden. I just show up and take pretty pictures.

We had to have a fence built around the garden area to keep the chickens out. They like to ruin gardens.

Overall, its doing really good considering we are in a terrible drought. Its looking more and more beautiful and we are slowly starting to harvest a variety of things. We still don't have very many tomatoes (my fav) yet. All in good time, right?

Laney Rae is totally in her element working alongside her daddy. She loves being outside. But, she loves being with her daddy outside even better!

Here are some photos of them working together in the garden. I could not resist the sundress and pink rubber boots.

The kittens decided to join them! When they see Laney Rae, they take off running excitedly at her.

I was able to snag a photo of these two cats sitting together with the barn in the background.

Laney Rae immersed in the tomato plants.

Daddy and Rae Rae picking squash!

Kitten with a bucket o' squash.

I love this little girl!

Rubber boots and kittens!

How cute are they?

One of our watermelons......they are actually doing wonderful this year!

We found a guinea nest in the garden!

The faces I love....in photos

Oh, that our home on earth might be to them the pathway, the gate to the Father's home in heaven! Blessed Father, let us and our children be Thine wholly and forever. Amen!

-Andrew Murray-

My child, if your heart is wise, then my heart will be glad; my inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.

Proverbs 23:15-16

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

3 John 1:4

What feeling is so nice as a child's hand in yours? So small, so soft and warm, like a kitten huddling in the shelter of your clasp.

-Marjorie Holmes-

{nEsTinG} a BabY sHoWEr FoR Henry!

My friend, Missy, and I had a shower last weekend for our good friend, Holly. She is having her second boy….Henry! We are so excited for her and their sweet family. I’ve got to tell ya….these two gals mean the world to me. The Lord has blessed me beyond measure with their friendship. His timing is perfect!

Holly is a fan of all things décor and is an amazing interior designer herself. Of course Missy and I had to rise to the occasion! We made a really great team I must say! Missy is a talented florist and also has a great eye for design. I love to cook and also love design so we took this theme and ran with it! We had a blast too.

Our baby shower theme was “Nesting”. It fit perfectly with Holly having a boy because we used the colors blue and brown. We threw in some burlap and white linen cloths in the mix as well.

The shower would not be complete without silhouettes! Holly is a huge fan of silhouettes. I purchased the invitations from Sarah & Abraham. I’ve been following this gal for years in the blog world and knew her invitations would fit perfectly with our theme and Holly would love them.

For party favors, Missy put together terra cotta pots and rye grass seeds. I designed these gift tags to go on the pots.

Our friend, Hailey of The Muffin Top in Brenham, is an amazing pastry chef! She was in charge of the cupcakes. Hailey did an amazing job and also brought some beautiful décor to spruce up the cake table. I couldn’t get over how adorable the cupcakes were in little nests. Oh my- talk about cute! And they were not only adorable, but also tasted delicious as well! You should go and check her out!




Our menu (which I’m all about☺) consisted of French Toast Casserole, 2 types of Quiche, Pear Salad, Chicken Salad bites, lemon glazed muffins, and fruit. The guests all raved about the food- which always makes me happy since I love to cook for a crowd. I will post these recipes below. They are no-fail recipes. I had several gals asking for them. Yum!

Overall, the shower was a beautiful time of fellowship and prayer. It was amazing sitting there in a room full of beautiful women who love the Lord who desire to come alongside this precious family and help raise little Henry up to love Jesus.









Recipes:


Paula Deen’s French Toast Casserole w/ Praline Topping

1 loaf of French Bread
8 large eggs
2 cups ½ and ½
1 cup milk
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
dash salt
Praline Topping (recipe follows)
Maple Syrup

Slice French bread into 20 slices, 1-inch each. (Use any extra bread for garlic toast or bread crumbs). Arrange slices in a generously buttered 9 by 13-inch flat baking dish in 2 rows, overlapping the slices. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, half-and-half, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and beat with a rotary beater or whisk until blended but not too bubbly. Pour mixture over the bread slices, making sure all are covered evenly with the milk-egg mixture. Spoon some of the mixture in between the slices. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spread Praline Topping evenly over the bread and bake for 40 minutes, until puffed and lightly golden. Serve with maple syrup.

Praline Topping

2 sticks butter (would you expect anything less, it’s Mrs. Paula!!!)
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
2 tbsps light corn syrup
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and blend well. Makes enough for Baked French Toast Casserole.


Chad’s Quiche- I got this recipe from a very cool guy who loves to cook. He works at a local restaurant and prepares the most delicious quiches ever! This recipe is super easy. It does have Mayo in it and I swear to you that you can’t taste it!

6 eggs
3/4 cup Mayo
3/4 cup Half and Half
1 baked pie crust
Cheese (normally 3 slices)- I like provolone
Fillings of your choice- I used bacon and avocado

Pre-bake pie crust. Place cheese in bottom of crust and place in oven until melted. Take crust out and place filling on top of melted cheese. Blend together w/ hand mixer eggs, mayo, half and half. Pour over filling. Place quiche on top of pizza pan and bake in a 340 degree oven for 45 minutes.