Summer Memories

Our neighbor recently purchased this water slide. It's huge and the children on our street had TOOO much fun on it today! It just made me sit back and think about how fun summer is when you are a child. Don't get me wrong, I love summer now too, but there is a certain quality to summer that you experience as a child you just don't have as an adult. Maybe it's the innocence of childhood...I'm not sure. I sat there and watched the children today and my mind started drifting back to all of the fun memories I have of growing up on warm summer days just like today. Watching the children laughing and sliding made me hope that when these children look back they think of days like this....days of playing, laughing, and eating lunches on beach towels. Days when your biggest worry was mom saying it was naptime and your "house" was a fort made out of sheets in the backyard. I feel blessed to have children that let me recapture, if only for a moment, that innocence that makes summer such a special time.

Free Cake Anyone?

Well, I mentioned in an earlier blog that I am getting into this whole cookie/cake decorating thing. I was inspired by my friend Katie that makes adorable cookies. I made cupcakes for Jaden's first birthday and loved them. Now I am ready to tackle making a layered cake. I watched Ace of Cakes and was totally inspired....and also became a little overly confident (evident when I began thinking I would just whip up a wedding-type cake...they make it look so easy)!! I also decided I want to use fondant to decorate my cake (again, inspired by the cool cakes on Ace of Cakes). My friend Jami gave me a great fondant recipe that worked for her. I've purchased a book on decorating cakes with fondant, but I am still looking for ANY and ALL advice anyone can give me. If you have ever decorated a layered cake or used fondant and have any advice to give I would really appreciate it. Also, I am looking for a family that would enjoy the cake that I make - it would be wasted around here because we don't eat sweets. Please post comments if you have advice or would be interested in a free cake (I'll even deliver it)!!!

"Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon"

--Anonymous

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, It's Off to Clean I go...

We all have housework....it is part of being a "happy housewife"! Some of it I honestly enjoy, some of it I don't mind, and parts of it I dread. I honestly enjoy doing laundry. There is something about a large pile of clean folded laundry that gives me such a feeling of accomplishment! I love to organize closets and cabinets. Unfortunately, I have had to hold back my obssession with this since one of my children's favorite pastimes is to unorganize them. On the flip side, since we have moved into our new home the dusting is NEVER ENDING. It seems as if I dust and within an hour the dust has returned. It doesn't help that we have a lot of black in our home (countertops, tables, fireplace surround, etc) that shows off the dust so very nicely! I am also not a big fan of cleaning toilets....but then again who is?! I have discovered that one of my favorite ways to do housework is to crank up the radio really loud and dance around like a rockstar with my children while I do it. I am sure if anyone could see in my windows they would be sure I lost my mind, BUT my daughter now asks with delight, "Mommy, can we CLEAN today?!!!!" I'm curious...what is your favorite and least favorite part of housework?? Just post a comment to let me know. If you are unsure how to do that just click on the small "comment" icon at the bottom of this blog post (it will actually say "1 comment" or however many there are) and then type out your comment. It will then ask you to retype a few letters (this is to reduce spam). After that you click on "name" and type in your name, OR you are more than welcome to click "anonymous" and I won't be able to tell who you are, but I can still read your comment. I am anxious to know what the other "Happy Housewives" out there are thinking about this subject!

I'm Going to Tiptoe!

I'm going to tiptoe VERY carefully into this whole blogging world after a lot of thought and consideration. I've decided that this may be an interesting avenue to visit since A) I am a stay at home mom and I want an outlet where I can share thoughts, feelings, and ideas B) We have family that lives out-of-town and I know they would like to see regular posts on our munchkins and C) I've become quite a junkie on other blogs and decided to try it for myself.

Life as a happy housewife comes with all of the ups and downs that you may expect. We all have good days and bad days, but I know that I am blessed beyond belief and I thank God for the blessings in my life every day. Hopefully my blog will allow me to have a record of these precious days, as I am learning just how quickly they slip away.

"I'll make a resolution, then I'll never make another one....just enjoy this ride on my trip around the sun"
--Jimmy Buffett