House Guest

It seems we have a new house guest that is quite happy with her new home. We met her a week ago at our park in our neighborhood. She was so sweet and friendly and very, very hungry. I believe she was dropped at the park the week before. Avery and Alia enjoyed her company at the park but we left her there when we headed home. I thought about her all day and couldn't get the starving kitty out of my head. Around supper time, I packed the children into the van and headed to the grocery store for 2 cans of cat food. You see, I was only going to feed her at the park and simply head back home. Once we got there, she knew the moment we got out of the car that we had food. She ran over to us and proceeded to eat two cans of cat food in seconds. My heart went out to her, so I picked her up and put her in the van. Now there are two problems with this: 1. I am EXTREMELY allergic to cats. I break out in hives, become asthmatic, have a runny nose, and itchy eyes, not a pretty site. 2. We have a dog that loves to torment cats. Despite both of these, I headed home with a cat. She is currently living on our deck outside and she is so happy to be loved and fed. Avery and Alia adore her. I still pet her, but suffer for it each time. But how can I help it, she is so sweet and is longing to be loved. At this point, her future is uncertain. She can't live outside on my deck forever. I have called all of the no-kill shelters and everyone is over capacity. For now, I am having her spayed and getting her vaccinations so that someone will want her.

As summer winds down....

Alia continues to try and try to put her own shoes on. It's so fun to watch her determination!




This is what my kitchen typically looks like when I'm cooking supper. This was their idea of a band. When they aren't banging on the pots they are hiding in the empty cupboards. I love watching them play together.



Avery has been so fascinated with magicians and tricks ever since we saw one at our local library. I checked out a book on how to do some simple tricks and he picked out one for us to try. Here is a video of Avery doing the trick and then Scott.

Avery and Alia

Some updated photos from this weekend.
Avery 4 yrs and Alia 1.5 yrs.

Vanilla Extract

Since we have been making more ice cream lately, we have been buying real vanilla beans to flavor the ice cream with. The grocery store charges so much for 1 bean that we decided to buy some in bulk. It is about ten times cheaper to go that route, but the consequence is that you have more vanilla beans than can be used in a lifetime. However, this works perfect for making your own extract. It is super easy and fun.

Ingredients: Vanilla beans & Vodka.


Bulk vanilla = $Cheap$ + Organic!!!


Beans should be long, full and not cracked or smoky smelling.


Cut each one down the middle


Fill a pint jar with 3-7 split beans. The more the richer the flavor.


Now fill the jar with the cheapest vodka you can find. Top shelf doesn't matter here. Actually you really just need some alcohol to extract the vanilla flavor. Vodka works well because it doesn't have a flavor of its own but you can use any hard liquor. Now stick it in your cupboard and forget about it for a couple of months. Based on my results I wouldn't take it out before 6 weeks. By 2 months it really took on a dark, rich color.


4 weeks. Shake it a bit and put it back.


2 months. The beans now look pale and the extract is getting dark. I ran out of store bought today so I refilled the container with this stuff. I only used half of the jar so I will let the other half sit for awhile longer. Lasts indefinitely since it is bathed in vodka.

If you were wondering $30 in vanilla beans + $10 in vodka could make about 7 pints of extract = $150 in store bought vanilla extract.

We made two pints and I'm sure I'm going to have this stuff around when my kids go off to college.

Happy 4th Birthday Avery!

On his birthday I let him make the rules. So far today he's eaten a doughnut with sprinkles for breakfast, had me help with his chores, went and saw a magician, skipped his quiet time, and watched cartoons.


The cake making process was fun. The dinosaur was made up of several cakes, 2 packages of powdered sugar and 3 packages of butter. It may not have been the healthiest but it tasted great! We ended up making a homemade fondant for the scales and they turned out good. The bigger scales started to fall after sitting out of the fridge but a toothpick helped fix the problem.




He ate too many scales and ended up feeling sick. I suppose that would happen since they are mostly made of marshmallows.


Grandpa thought it was funny that he stacked his gifts up.


Alia really liked the scooter. She saw Avery riding on it and she thought she could do it too.


The place we picked blueberries had goats you could feed.




Grandpa and Grandma Davis were here to help celebrate Avery's birthday. They helped us pick blueberries. We were so thankful since it was warm out and we needed a lot to make our jam.


I couldn't pick fast enough. Once she saw my bucket full of berries, she plopped down and ate so many!


So full!


This picture makes me laugh. There were much taller bushes but she claimed there were a lot of really great berries on it.


We fed the geese near our home.


This was the balance bike Avery got a year ago for his 3rd birthday. He is able to balance on his own now. I think he's ready for a bike with pedals. This bike was a great way to teach him balancing and I think we've avoided the training wheels altogether.


He found a turtle on the cart path.


We rented golf carts.


Alia, Grandma, Grandpa and Avery. Avery loves when they come visit. He was so sad when they left.

And finally the pictures you've all been waiting for- the yearly comparison with Avery and Banana!


Avery 3 years


Avery 4 years

Cocoa Beach and Amanda's Wedding

We spent a beautiful few days in Cocoa Beach Florida with my family.




Avery had a blast playing with his cousins. This was the first time he actually played in the waves.


Gaven catching waves




Alia was the flower girl in the wedding. This is a picture of her before the wedding. The plan was for her to walk with Austin down the aisle.


This was Alia throwing a fit on the floor a few minutes before the wedding.


She refused to walk with Austin, let alone be put down so last minute I had to walk with her. The best man had to walk alone.


This picture is the only evidence we have that Alia was actually in the wedding. Scott had to pry her out of my arms just after this and take her away. He laid her down to change her diaper, she put her dress over her head and fell asleep. Both Scott and Alia missed the wedding and all of the pictures.














Trying to take the attention off of my bad tan lines. I tried so hard to have no lines for her wedding and I was doing great until the day before the wedding when I burned.


Here she is at the reception after a nice long nap. She was all smiles here.