Celebrating the 4th

I cannot believe I'm just now posting this! Hopefully, later today, I'll get around to our trip to King's Island that was the weekend after this!

This year, we went down to Summer Celebration for dinner, the final keynote, music, and fireworks. It was actually on July 3rd, which was a good thing since our 4th was a rainout. The session was a bit longer than my kiddos could quietly handle, but it was fun nonetheless! We met friends there; our kids were W-I-L-D after we let them loose outside, but we all had a great time. I hope to do it again next year with an even bigger group!

the kiddos outside waiting for fireworks & listening

grant & claire thought it was a good place to play ring around the rosy

grant & lilly watching fireworks. she was so funny keeping her arms over her ears.

New Pictures

We had some new pictures made this past Saturday at Percy Warner. These are just a few that Brooke posted on her blog. There are a few more here if you want to see them. The pictures were just supposed to be of Grant & Claire since he recently turned 4 and she 18 months, but Pook & I ended up in a few too. This top one would've been my favorite EVER had I not screwed it up looking goofy! Leave it to me! I can't wait to see the rest!

These lollipops may have been the biggest mess ever! Thanks Lyla for the wagon idea! I loved your girls pics so much in it that I copied :-)!

My Favorite Summer Recipe

I’ve professed my love for homegrown tomatoes in the summer several times. So, now I’m going to share my favorite tomato recipe. I’d never heard of tomato pie until a few years ago when my friend, Alicia, introduced me to it. I thought it sounded gross until I tasted it! Now, I look forward to making it every year.

Ingredients:

4 Homegrown Tomatoes
1 Pre-Baked Pie Shell
10 Fresh Basil Leaves, chopped
½ cup Green Onions, chopped
1 cup Grated Mozzarella Cheese
1 cup Grated Cheddar Cheese
1 cup Real Mayonnaise
Salt & Pepper

Preheat your oven to 350. First, you need to peel your tomatoes. If you’re anything like me, you’re thinking…really?! The 1st time I made this, I didn’t know the trick to peeling tomatoes and it took probably an hour to gently peel them. Then, my mom told me to stick the tomato on the fork, hold it in boiling water for just a bit, and voila the peel will come right off. Wow! That would’ve been good to know before I made this! So, peel your tomatoes, and then slice them. Place the slices in a colander over the sink, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and allow them to drain for about 10 minutes.

Now, place a layer of tomatoes in the pre-baked pie shell. Sprinkle with some of the basil, green onions, and salt & pepper. Continue layering until you’ve used all of your ingredients.

Combine Cheddar, Mozzarella, and Mayo in a separate bowl.
Spread the cheese mixture on top of the tomatoes in the pie shell and place in the oven.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden.

Cut into slices & serve warm.

ENJOY!!

Show Us Your Life - Wedding Dresses

Kelly over at Kelly's Korner is now showcasing wedding dresses instead of the home. I absolutely LOVED the WHOLE wedding planning process & really wish I could open my wedding dress up and put it on...not that it would fit, but I'd like to try. Too bad it would cost another $150 to seal it back up, so I won't be opening it! Since our 5 year anniversary is about 2 weeks away, I thought I'd participate this week. The thing that stinks is I have zero digital pictures of our wedding. Five years ago, digital cameras just weren't what they are today & I was still stuck in the film age. Since, we don't have a scanner, I just took pictures of pictures to post.

This is the bridal portrait that's hanging in our bedroom. It's an oil print on canvas so the texture may look a little weird on here. I LOVED my dress, as I'm sure everyone does and could easily pick the same one still 5 years later! I like VERY simple styles, but this one had some beading around the top and around the waist that came to a point in the back. At the point, the train actually opened up & was beaded all the way down. This picture was taken at Belle Meade Plantation. It was such a fun day!
This is another one from the bridal shoot. I love detail photos and I was also pretty crazy about my shoes, even though they were very simple. I wish I had them in black now! I guess I could still have them dyed, huh?!

On our actual wedding day, August 7, 2004. We were afraid it would be 100 degrees, choosing a date in August, but we had the perfect day. It was sunny with a high of 76 the day we wed, which until this past week is unheard of during the summer in TN!!

Another wedding day picture!

Ahhhh, this brings back great memories! I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat. How fun would it be to plan another wedding (but keep the same groom!)?!!

Happy Early Anniversary Pook!!

1 1/2 going on 12!

Seriously...how old is this girl looking now?! At 18 months, she has become extremely concerned with her fashion choices. Last night when I was trying clothes on her, she pranced around and really put on a show. She picked her own shoes out last week at GAP and we weren't shoe shopping! She pointed to them, grunted, took her crocs off and handed them to me and pointed again. She proceeded to put the new shoes on and did not take them off. I decided to buy them since they were pretty cute and she threw a MAJOR fit when I took them off to pay for them. Claire loves her hairbows too. The only reason she's lacking one here is she was straight out of the bathtub, hence the wet hair. She says, "habow, habow" and likes to pick the color herself. I have a feeling the next 17 years or so are going to be interesting since her mama is pretty opinionated too :-)!

Behind!

That's the only word I know to describe how I feel! In the last two weeks, we've been up close with Lady Antebellum, celebrated our nation's birthday, claire's 1/2 birthday, my 31st birthday, visted King's Island and good friends, started potty training and I'm sure so much more! I can't decide whether to try and post about each event that I'd intended to or just pick up where I am now! Either way, this is a post and what's a post without a picture?!

This is one of my favorites from right before the 4th. Grant was pretty scared of holding the sparklers(so we thought) so he held it down the whole time. As soon as the thing went out, he put it in his mouth!! I have no idea why!

Show Us Where You Live Friday, except on Wednesday!

MASTER BEDROOM EDITION

I took all of the pictures, but haven't had time to post this! We've been super busy the past 2 weeks, and I am looking forward to a slooooow down!

So, here's our master bedroom & bathroom since I missed the bathroom post... I am absolutely dying for a new (lighter & brighter) color & bedding, but it took 4 coats of this deep red paint to cover completely & I vowed that I would never ever paint over it. So, hopefully it won't be too big of a turnoff to potential buyers when we decide to sell (soon!). I really loved it, and it's still ok but i like to change things frequently and we'll be at 5 years with this in a few months. That's the longest I've ever kept a room color / bedding the same. We have moved furniture around to accomodate kiddos, changed lamps, pictures, curtains, etc. but I want a total redo! We also ordered our furniture but didn't have it in when we painted this color. I had no idea they would be so close. Our furniture almost blends in too much, but like i said 4 coats later it was not changing!

This is the 1st thing you see when you walk in the room & it's one of my absolute, favorite pics ever. It's from Claire's newborn session with courtney & it's a pic of her head in my hand with the verse Luke 12:7 under it ("even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.") LOVE IT!

across from claire's sweet head when you're walking into the room is my bridal portrait

picture of the mirror, dresser, pics of kiddos, and my one WKU item in the house - the Big Red puppet, which is actually concealing my only Kappa Delta item in the house - a jar with change in it.

and the view on the other side of the room

on the right side of the bed is the armoire - i started to close the doors for the picture which would've looked better, but they are NEVER closed so i figured what's the point. The desk is also on this side of the room now. it used to be in what was our spare bedroom, but claire took that over. i hate having this in the bedroom & is just another reason why i look forward to moving!

on the other side of the room, you find our closet. this used to be just mine alone, but again, when claire came things had to change. it is very difficult sharing a closet now, when i had it totally full myself!

and, the bathroom. picture is looking in from the bedroom.

to the left you have necessary bathroom features. HATE these shower doors! they are the worst things in the world to clean!

you can't really tell in most of these pics, but i painstakingly painted glossy stripes on the bathroom walls....yes, after 4 coats of regular paint, i taped off stripes & then painted with a clear glossy coat for a just a little dimension. I was also pregnant with grant when i did this. i'm not sure what i was thinking!
view from the other side of the bathroom toward the door side.