Monkey Bread

I am on a cooking/baking kick of late. Made my favorite pulled pork on Friday. Didn't get a single picture of it. :) I was too excited to get it into the oven and cooking in the morning. And when it was done I started pulling and taste testing before it even hit the counter. So by the time I even thought of a picture it was already picked clean to the bones and shredded onto multiple plates - one for the kids with no extra seasoning, one for me with extra rub and a generous helping of brown sugar, and one for Kevin with extra rub, and some spicy pan drippings.

Today I made monkey bread for 2nd breakfast.


Made it in my favorite heart bundt pan. After eying the pan skeptically I used 2/3rds of what the recipe called for and it still streamed over the edge of the pan onto the bottom of my oven where it burnt like crazy and gave my house a wonderfully awful smell just before the appliance repairman got here.

And the bottom? That's where I started the taste testing, again. :) And it was yummy, but very, very sweet. Connor devoured his and begged for "More candy!!", Ryan ate a few bites made a disgusted look and proclaimed it too sweet. Kevin snuck thirds while I was at the store.

Ready to Luau

It was Luau day at school today.


I love that smile. Especially that shadow of a dimple. It is just like mine.

Two Little Monkeys

Two little monkeys sitting upstairs.

My new toy

My new toy:

No I didn't buy a new camera, or a new lens. I got a camera strap. And not just any camera strap - one with a lens pocket. I was so excited! Finally a place to put the cap when I take it off where it won't collect lint in my pocket or who knows what where ever else I drop it. Only to realize that that in my haste and impatience [sigh] I should have measured my lens caps because the only one that is going to fit is my 50mm which I pretty much only shoot with in the house where the whole lint thing isn't such a big deal - I can drop it on any of the million surfaces around the house. Ah, well at least it's cute. Love those polka dots.

This is WAR.

They have gone too far.

This is WAR.

I am both fascinated and revolted watching them gobble up the poision. I am astounded at their sheer numbers and persistance. But most of all I am anxious. I am waiting with baited breath to see if this, this one, will finally work. Because above all - I WANT THEM GONE.

Fabulous French Toast

How good was it?

So good that he ate every.single.bite before he even touched his "strawbabies."

So good that he asked for seconds. Of french toast. The delicious, perfectly ripe, mouth watering "strawbabies" totally forgotten.

It was that good.

All decked out

The boys all decked out in the 4th of July swimsuits. Daddy has a blue shirt, too. It was just dirty.


And while I didn't notice it at the time, yes, Ryan's swim trunks are on backwards. Great job, Daddy. Luckily I was the one who put on his swim diaper and put him back into them before we went swimming so they did get turned around and put back on the right way before we got into the pool.

Watching the Rain

It rained almost all day today, though mostly in spurts. There would be torrential down pours followed by 30 minutes where the only rain would be the remnants dripping out of the trees.


I love the rain, or more accurately the storms. I can often be found sitting out in my rocking chair on the front porch watching the lightening and the rain during a good storm. The boys came out with me today. Connor sat in my lap and we rocked and watched a particularly long shower as it passed by waiting for Ryan and Daddy to come home from the store. When Ryan got home he joined us preferring to stand at the edge of the patio watching the rain drip out of the crepe myrtles and feel the spray as the drops hit the concrete and the breeze whipped the mist up onto the porch.

Movie Fest

For the record, with this afternoon's movie fest I have exceeded my quota for movies for the year, and doubled, or maybe even triped the number of movies I typically see annually. :)

One of the few perks of work aside from employment and a paycheck is that we typically get off work a few hours early before holidays. In the hopes that this just might be one of those times I had talked Kevin into going to see a movie. I guess this must be what they mean when they talk about Summer Blockbusters because there were at least 4 movies at the theater that I wanted to see. I had talked Kevin into seeing The Last Airbender and while talking to a coworker about seeing the movie later in the afternoon she said she wanted to see Twilight: Eclipse, but that her husband didn't want to go. It took us about 2 seconds to look up movie show times, decide we were going, grab our keys and head out the door.

I hadn't see any of the Twilight movies, before and frankly just didn't understand what the Twilight hype was all about. However, after seeing the movie I think I am a convert. I am either going to have to pick up the book or the first two movies, or maybe both. :)

Fireworks

Some of the boy's art from school.