E's Learning to Knit

Thanks to this gift from Mamaw and Papaw, E is learning how to knit.

Since Tuesday night when she arrived, Mamaw has been teaching E how to use her new knitting loom. This is what she made first. A newborn size hat.

She has started making a purple hat for herself and has gotten pretty far in the little time she has worked on it.


She has thoroughly enjoyed this gift. She loves to be creative and to make things. She is also quite industrious....she is already contemplating making some to sell!!

Mamaw and Papaw

We had a great visit with Scot's mom and dad.

We wish we were able to see them more often, but thankful for the time we were able to spend with them over the last several days.

New Family Game

We just love to play games together as a family. Scot's parents gave us Qwirkle to add to our growing collection of family games!

It is a game of logic and strategy that is fun and addictive! The best part is that people of all ages can enjoy it...and win!

Wikki Stixs

Scot's parents are here visiting this week. His mom always brings great gifts for the kids. This time she brought something I had not heard of before. It is called Wikki Stixs. Have you heard of them?



Wikki Stixs are like pipe cleaners made out of wax. They stick to surfaces so you can make pictures. They can be bent, twisted, and stuck together.

S and B got ones that came with a board like the picture above and M's came with a book that you can outline the pictures with the sticks.

It really is such a cool activity. They spent an hour playing with them during their art time making crazy faces, their name, words, objects, and silly pictures.


I can also see this as a fun way to learn letters and spell words. I love fun products that can be used for learning too!

Sour Cream Banana Bread

Today, I thought I would share a recipe with you. I got it from My Kitchen Cafe. It is so moist and so delicious! Give it a try this weekend, your family will be glad you did!


1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

In large bowl, beat together sugar and oil. Add eggs, bananas, sour cream and vanilla; blend well.
Add flour, baking soda and salt; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened.

Pour into prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes (about 40 minutes for smaller loaf pan) or until toothpick inserted in center comes clean.

Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan.

Special Pancakes

Sometimes when I make pancakes for breakfast, I personalize them with the first letter of each of my kids name.

It is super simple and makes them feel extra special!

Lego Night

Legos is another favorite family activity.

The kids and their daddy LOVE to spread out the blankets and dump their legos all over the living room floor. They have to be able to see ALL the pieces, you know.

Then the creative juices start flowing!!!

I am constantly amazed at all the cool moving trucks or planes that they create out of just a bunch of lego pieces. These are not "sets" that you buy to build, these are just random pieces that they use which makes it even cooler!

Scot is so creative when it comes to building things with legos. If it were just me playing legos with them, I am confident that they would not love it as much. I am just not talented in the lego department. He can come up with things like this


and this.

We have given B some legos in the past, but the majority of these legos are the very same ones that Scot played with as a boy. Pretty cool huh?!

So what is your favorite family night activity?

10 Years....and Reluctantly Counting

Many of you know that we have had our house on the market for the past year. It has been a long hard year...a year of waiting on God's timing while learning to be patient and content. These are not easy lessons to learn...at least for me!

Scot reminded me that 10 years ago this month we bought this house.

I do love this house and a part of me is sad to move. This house holds many precious memories. I wrote about it here. I remember crying as I wrote that post and even now my eyes are tearing up....I don't think I can think about that now!

So today, we celebrate 10 years in our home...and patiently count down the days until we move on to our dream home! A place where new memories will be made.....

M's Gift

See this cute little strawberry that M is holding. It is a gift from my friend Shelly.

It is an original Strawberry Shortcake doll case with the original dolls still inside!

It was hers from when she was a little girl! I feel so honored that she shared this with M. She loves Strawberry Shortcake and they are the perfect size dolls for her to play with right now.


Thanks Miss Shelly! M loves them so much! Oh, and she has been sharing with S. They both love playing with Miss Shelly's dolls!

Labor Day

We are out at the land working and enjoying the holiday with our family.

Crepe Myrtle blooming out at the land.

To see what we have done so far this weekend, check out Our Home blog.

Small Town Football Game

What is Friday night in the fall without high school football right?


Tonight, our small town was playing my cousin Billy's Alma mater. We went to the game together and had a blast!

We sat on our team's side...not that he was happy about that, but we outnumber him 6 to 1 so he had no choice!

My mom also went to the game. Her and E both wore in their Alabama shirts. I don't think there is too many people more excited about college football starting - mainly Alabama playing - than my E. That girl loves her some Alabama football!



S was so excited about going to the football game. All week she talked about it. She is a social bug so this was right up her alley! Nana and Billy both bought the kids pom poms. S loved having them to help her cheer!

M was fascinated by the cheerleaders and majorettes. Anytime they were in front of us cheering or during the halftime show, she would just watch them in awe.

She kept us laughing too...Our mascot is the Ram. She kept asking where is the reindeer?

Then after the game, she saw the football players go into the field house. She said, I guess they all have to go to the bathroom! It was so funny, and to her defense, the field house did look like the same building the bathrooms were in!

What a great way to spend some fun family time!

B&N Summer Reading Club

The girls completed their summer reading for the B&N club weeks ago, but we had not gotten around to going and getting their free books. Seeing as the deadline was approaching, I finally made it a priority to take the girls to redeem their certificates. I was shocked when the sales lady informed us that they had thrown away the info sheet on this program because they had so many people abusing the system!

Thankfully, they honored our certificates and let the girls pick out a book. Because they no longer had the info and no one in the store knew which books were on the approved list, they let them choose their favorite books $9.99 and below! The girls were so excited about this because most of the books on the list were not ones they were interested in anyway. We were there for more than an hour debating which books to choose!


S finally decided on this. It is a 3-in-1 book of the Adventures of Little Bear.

E got one of the new AG books. She has been looking forward to reading about the new girl since receiving the catalog in the mail.

I am so thankful for programs like this. How great is that companies and libraries reward kids for reading during the summer months!

B's Drawing

Our son B, who is 5 years old, drew this great family portrait.

The sweetest thing he did was include M's favorite bear.

Lately, she has been taking "Beary" with her everywhere she goes -so I guess Beary really is a part of our family too, at least for now!