oh my word...

...it is ridiculously hot! It is 78 degrees at 9pm, but it feels like 98! I've got the ac on in my bedroom to cool it down from 85 degrees for later when I go to sleep! I'm considering going in there early to just lay in the ac. I've got the living room ac going with a sheet up in the doorway to the kitchen and the doors closed to the bedrooms and bathrooms, but I have a feeling I'll give up that futile attempt and retreat to the bedroom soon! Tomorrow my mom is having a little Labor Day cookout and birthday party for my sister, Kaitlyn. She turned 24 on August 8th, the day before she gave birth to baby Freddy. So he's about 4 weeks old now and is simply divine!

I'm in charge of making cake tomorrow. We usually have flag cake that looks like this. (but we make a Jello cake instead of using sliced pound cake, but it looks the same) We make this type of cake for the patriotic holidays.Well, this year I am switching it up! I want to make this type of cake this year.

A hidden flag cake! I had intended to bake it today and assemble it tomorrow because it is so hot and humid here right now, but I didn't bake tonight! So, I'll have to bake tomorrow and assemble it before we leave for the party. I also have to stop quick at the store to pick up formula for my sister (more on that at a later date, as well as other things I don't agree with-haha)

Today, Meghan and I went out to our small hometown and picked up my sister and her baby and went to the Farmer's Market in the nearby small city. It was awesome! I was a little tentative because I had never been to the farmer's market before and I really had no idea what I was doing. We got 9 ears of corn, 2 large sweet potatoes, 1 bunch broccoli, 4 large peaches, 1 large tomatoe, and 1 red onion for 12 dollars. Pretty sweet! I am excited to eat our fresh food, and will have to pretty quick because we are going camping in a few days!

After the farmer's market, we stopped at Walmart to pick up the thank you cards for Meghan's birthday (which I have neglected to send out, bad me!) They're awesome and were super cheap!

Cute right?! I only had to pay to have them printed because I won the design in a giveaway I entered awhile ago. It was for 1 design from an etsy store that did custom invitations. I got notified that I had won literally, the day after I had mailed out Meghan's birthday party invites. I was bummed because I didn't have a use for invitations, then I realized I could customize it any way I wanted, so I had the etsy seller change the wording to thanks and had her put in a picture of Meghan eating her cupcake!

Of course, Meg looks comatose because it was late afternoon and she didn't get a nap! :) After our adventures in the small city, we went back to my Dad's house and I cut Kait's hair. It is super cute, she wanted to get rid of some of the length and weight and add some bangs. Her hair was down to her mid-back and I cut about 6 inches off and added long, side-swept bangs. Sister is looking goooood!

By then it was about 3pm, so we decided to stay for dinner and that was a good choice! My dad had been slowing cooking dry-rubbed ribs in the oven all day and then finished them on the grill with a wet barbecue sauce. Yummmm! Meg and I left soon after and stopped at the homestead (Drew's parents' house) to visit his family since we probably won't see them again until my birthday. (gah, going to be 26!) We visited for awhile and Meg ate her first chicken cheddar nugget, which she devoured! ;)

Finally, we made it home at about 8, Meghan went right to sleep after a long day with only a 20 minute nap in the car...and now it's bedtime for me!

woohoo...

...I added a reply button to my comments! I am stoked, I love to reply to all your lovely comments, but I think it looks awkward when it's not a reply. It sort of looks mishmashed. Like I am replying to my own post instead of your comment!

In other not-so-nerdy news, today is a glorious Saturday! Drew's brother, Luke has graduated high school and today is his graduation party! I am excited to get to see his side of the family and visit with them...and also for the food! There's just something about mil, Kim's, cooking. It's amazing! (and I'm not just saying that because she reads this! :D ) Her food is just super simple and yummy! She even did all the food for our wedding and reception! (except the cake) Which reminds me, I should write the story of our wedding on here sometime...

Maybe another post later tonight!

ketchup?...

...no, catch up! Haha, I have sooo much to write about! I really think I should just start multiple blog posts as I think them up...now, there's an idea! This past Saturday was Meghan's first birthday and here are some highlights:

Morning of the party! Check out meg's themed pink and purple tyedye onesie we bought at the state fair last year!

Hanging out with Daddy!

Meg and Aunt Kait, who is due with her 1st baby on 8-8-11, her birthday!

Meghan and Aunt Lacie, I love this picture!

awesome shirt my friend Klare made for meg, she has a 1 year old, scotty, and is married to Drew's cousin, Jeremy, who was in the same grade as me in high school

Ahhh, cupcakes! :)

We had it at a local park pavilion, because it was free! It was in a lovely, completely shaded area, which worked out great because it was in the low 90s that day! There is a public pool located at the same park and it is indefinitely closed, which worked to our advantage. I imagine it would have been quite crowded, had it been open.

We kept things simple, as far as food. Drew grilled some hot dogs and hamburgers. My mom made a veggie and dip tray, Lacie made devilled eggs, Kim (Drew's mom) made her awesome pasta salad, my grandmother brought fruit salad and I threw together a cheese/pepperoni/cracker tray. I'm glad we didn't have to do all the food, because that plus the 114 cupcakes...yes! 114!...would've been craaaazy.

I crafted a lot of things for this party, yet neglected to get any really good pictures of the party (go me!) I made the cupcake shaped invitations, cut out 100+ cupcake wrappers, sewed up 900 feet of crepe paper into ruffled streamers, 17 cupcake take home boxes, made a cupcake shaped pinata...I think that's it. Haha, it was nuts! I had more plans, but I didn't do some of them. I had also wanted to do a happy birthday banner and a "watch me grow" banner (with pictures of Meghan at 1 month, 2 months, etc.) I'm glad I didn't because I was stressed enough as it was!

We had a blast and everything went well, until my mother pointed out there were no condiments for the hot dogs and hamburgers...the only thing I will say is that they were on the hubby's list and he didn't want to pay $8 for the party pack at BJ's! (wholesale club) :D So, we ate plain hot dogs and burgers and they weren't bad. It was too hot to care anyway!

Meghan's actual birthday is today, I had her birthday post all written and set up to automatically post at 9 this morning, but it never did...hmmm...I don't know! That's what I get for trying to do something ahead of time! :) I just manually posted it, even though it reads 9am. Well, now I'm going to work on a post with pictures...so off I go!

today was...

Meghan's 1st birthday party! It was hot and sticky, but we had lots of cool drinks and yummy cupcakes and we had a lot of fun! I think/hope everyone else did too. I have pictures on my phone, that I will get around to posting on here and facebook, but not tonight because I am soooo tired! Good night!

oh man...

...this birthday party is going to be ridiculous. I really have let my craftiness get the better of me. :) I have some really awesome things made and almost made and still-in-the-planning stage made. I can't write about a lot of the details yet, because my mil reads this and as I said before, I do want some surprises ;)

I had no idea how crazy this 1st birthday would be. Next year I think the 3 (or 4, God willing) of us will sit at home by ourselves! :) Hahaha, I don't think that would go over well with the grandparents. But a momma can dream!

Tomorrow, it's going to be almost 100 degrees out. Needless to say, we will be spending most of the day inside in the air conditioning. We do have to go out in the morning to get baking supplies to make some yummy cupcakes for Saturday! I don't know when I'll be baking because it's so hot out, but I'll have to do it sometime. Maybe tomorrow night, at least it won't be in the triple digits! I did manage to keep it pretty cool in here today. I was quite surprised, I've had the air on almost all day, but on the lowest/slowest fan setting.

I've got lots more to do and plan, so off to bed for me!

gaaaaaah!

you would think that life would slow down, but it just keeps plugging along, with no concern for the fact that I haven't updated in forever! :) We have been super busy lately, now that the weather is (finally) nice out, we have had some event or get-together every weekend for the past couple of months. Also, it is full on graduation party/baby shower/bridal shower/birthday party season! This weekend we have a graduation party, 2 birthday parties, Drew has 2 gigs for the band on the same day! This past weekend we had father's day at my grandparents house and a double graduation/farewell party for Drew's cousins M, A and B. B just finished basic training to be a medic in the Army, he and his wife are moving to Washington state where B is now stationed.

M and A both graduated from high school (M did it in 3 year) and were both accepted to the same nursing school, so they have great prospects ahead of them. I am so excited for B and his wife, B has made such a turn around in his life and he really is an inspiration. He was headed down the wrong track in life and he really took responsibility for his actions and made a better life for himself. I hope he feels as proud of himself as the rest of us feel about him.

So, on Friday, my nephew Dylan is turning 3! I can't believe it has been 3 years already, it seems like yesterday I was in the delivery room watching him take his first breaths. His birthday party is on Sunday at my mother's house, which is now a certified petting zoo! It all started when my mother took in some cows-heifers that had lost their calfs in a tragic flooding accident a few months ago. Then she and her husband decided to get some chickens-to have their own fresh eggs and also sell the extra eggs in a road side stand. Then the geese started migrating to their pond. Then they got a couple of pigs. Then it was turkeys, ducks and pheasants. It was a natural choice to have Dylan's party be farm-themed!

I'm in charge of the cake for the party. At first, Lacie wanted an ice cream cake. She had some recipe that involved cookies and I don't know what else. That was quickly squashed. I did a little research and found this:

and I was like, "Hey, that's not bad. I can totally do that!" And Lacie was happy with it and Dylan was ecstatic, of course. But I couldn't just let that be the end of it, because that would be too easy then I found this:

and I was like, "Hot dang, I can really do this!" :) So, this is the one I'll be making for Dylan's party. It's definitely better in all aspects, including having the animal cupcakes that I wanted to do-cows, pigs and chickens. I had also made the invitations to the party, which had cows, pigs and chickens and a red barn. I am going to take a lot of little artistic license with the design and sub some things like graham crackers for the roof instead of Life cereal- I like the way the grahams look like shingles.

And that's how my Saturday will be spent...constructing barns and farm animals out of cake.

Bake on!