I wish I had more to talk about. More to share. Life goes on. Even when you’re not participating. Right now I’m just trying to get my groove back, as a friend so eloquently stated.

I’m sorry I can’t be a better friend right now to all of you. Cheering on your crafty/mommy/womanly endeavors. Know that although I may be silent in the blog world I am still thinking of all of you. Until I find my voice again, au revoir.

Although I do not recommend this at all, I was driving down the road. Okay, at stop lights and kept taking my picture with my phone. In an attempt to get my very own cute Facebook picture.

So let me show you what I came up with.

Failed. Miserably. Every time. Not cute. Not sassy.

If anyone else is on Facebook, let me know and I’ll look you up.

Loving the apple recipes! Keep them coming!! Also, fixed the link to the actual apple pie recipe I made. Sorry about that.

Happy Humpday y’all!

With all of the apples, the first item on the list was to make an apple pie. So I googled ‘apple pie recipe’ came up with this FANTASTIC recipe. It is one of the best apple pie recipes I’ve ever tried. Yummy! Add these items to your shopping list and make it now. Okay, tomorrow. Or even next weekend. But you have to make this pie. And don’t forget the Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream. That combination will knock your socks off. If you don’t have Blue Bell, you’re going to have to make your own. Just kidding!

Do you have any apple recipes to share? I’d love to collect them and put them on my blog in a post. Send me a link or comment with your favorite apple recipe by Friday. Can’t wait to try them all!

He said it was going to rain. The weatherman that is. A shower for five minutes this morning does not, in my book, constitute rain. Whatsoever. The grass is all brown. Most plants have dried up. And Lake Travis is beginning to look like Lake Havasu. Boy do I sound like Debbie Downer today.

Speaking of the lake, we spent a lot of time down there this weekend fishing and throwing rocks. And can I tell you that Makena’s little princess pole catches more fish than any pole we bring down there?!? Granted they are little perch, but a caught fish makes everyone happy. Anyhow, we’re not fishing for dinner. We’d starve.

On another note, why do people flip me off with my kids in the car? I was thinking about painting a huge sign on my back windshield that says ‘Keep your finger to yourself. My kids are in the car.’ How do you think that’d go over? Yeah, I figured as much. Fun to think about anyway.

Happy Monday friends!

What made you happy?

What made you mad?

What made you sad?

Everyday I get the same answer to the happy question. And that answer is ’sharing.’ I am always surprised and relieved when she gives me the answer. Proudly thinking to myself, she gets it!

Well what I’ve begun to notice is that she gets the fine art of manipulation. At three. Tell mama what she wants to hear and everything will be lovely.

All is not as it seems on the sharing front with her buddy Gage. Not sharing.

Nope. Not one bit.

There has been lots of living. Sometimes I struggle with the balance of blogs. I start going down my list of must read blogs and just can’t stop. Before you know it, I’ve been on the computer all day. Made a list of projects that overwhelm me before I begin. And wonder where the day went.

So I promise to start blogging regularly. I actually have a project I’ve been working on that I can’t wait to tell you about. It is fall and there is just too much bloggy goodness going around to stay away for too long.

Yesterday while Makena was in school, Keegan and I ventured out to find some fall decor at Hobby Lobby to cheer up the place a bit. I spent an hour and a half there trying to decide between the 10,000 pumpkins available. I even called a friend in desperation to help me. Got home and got the piano decorated just in time for the cool weather. Actually it’s still in the 90’s here but we can pretend can’t we?!?

While we’ve been doing all of this living, a trip to San Antonio was in order to see the family. I think it’s still too hot to go to Sea World. Maybe in a couple of weeks. We did go to cousin Connor’s baseball game. I actually caught a quick shot of Makena with her cousins watching the game. They probably only watched the game for two seconds. The rest of the time running around, eating Ring Pops and trying to catch a frog. Then trying to bring said frog home.

Watching six-year-olds play baseball just melt my heart. It won’t be long before it gets serious. But for now, they are just happy to be there. My kind of sport.

Speaking of the street, has anyone noticed PBS’ new programming line-up? Where did Sesame Street go in the morning? It was a staple around here. Now I just have to record it and play it during breakfast. You can’t have cheerios without Sesame Street.

We have quite a few people in our neighborhood as you can see in the basket. All the usual suspects are there. The swing, the mommy, the baby, the highchair, the trike. The firetruck. The race car driver.

I began a process about a year ago of weeding out the new Little People that had made their way into the house. Out with the new, in with the old. Seems to be a theme around here.

I have scoured yard sales, thrift stores and estate sales for the past year. I was able to find an assortment of people and animals, the house, barn and school house (complete with all magnetic letters). All of the pieces that I had as a child but that have disappeared over the years. Every time I find another little bag of people my heart skips a beat. I do a little dance on the inside. Quickly scoop up my find and hold onto it as tightly as I can.

Fortunately, my kiddos treasure these Little People just as much as I do. They are kept in the living room, not stashed in the closet, and played with all of the time. We set up the house. Rearrange the living spaces. Get the kids into the school. Load up the camp van with unlikely suspects and play all day long. Sometimes even, Makena brings her princesses in for a visit and Keegan brings his Star Wars characters. And I… well I just like to decorate the spaces.

It’s a family affair.

Goggles were on clearance at Target. Hehehe… The kids, in their pajamas, set up their chairs to watch daddy change his tire. And of course they had to wear their new goggles.

So what have we been up to for the past three weeks? Well… I was baptized! Woohoo! My sister Alison had her baby girl. We survived Hurricane Ike. Without a drop of rain. Makena has been loving school. She was even the ‘line leader.’ Oh yes, that’s a big deal in pre-school! Keegan has been snotty/wheezy so the nebulizer has been out and running.

Today both of the kids are sick and we’re laying low. Maybe I’ll do some laundry. Maybe not. Glad to be back friends. I hope to catch up with everyone as soon as I can. I miss your blogs and your friendship.

This pillow that I had seen in this book.  It is not a crafty/pattern book.  It’s more of a lifestyle book.  How to really live at home.  I have gotten several ideas for decorating and simplifying in this book.  I used some of my favorite fabric and linen.  My first time working with linen and I have to say that I love it.  I struggled forever trying to do an invisible stitch and just finally gave up.  I couldn’t quite ever make the knot big enough to not pull right through the linen.  And if you haven’t picked up a copy of this book yet, you really should.  It’s one of my favorites.

I also made some cafe curtains for my kitchen window.

Adds a spash of color to the kitchen and ties in the red from the rest of the house. I’ve been wanting to add some orangey-red (official name) to this space and it just feels right.

For my birthday I was given this sweet mixed media art piece by a wonderful friend.  She’s a scrap booking genius and has started making and will soon be selling her work.  I’ll keep you all posted on this.  She has an etsy shop in the works.  The quote above the owl says “The art of being wise is knowing what to over look.” Wise words.  Very wise indeed.  Sarah and I were talking about our knee jerk reaction to situations.  A constant work in progress for me.  This sweet picture will remind me of that everyday.

In crafting news, I got out the mod podge yesterday and began working on a small suitcase.  I’ve seen this idea around a couple of places and decided to give it a go myself.  I used a Bambi book from the 1970’s.  I was able to do the front side yesterday, let it dry, and will finish the back today.  It’s a cute little vintage Samsonite case with a fabric handle.  I’m guessing they were used as weekend bags.

Speaking of the weekend!  Have a great Labor Day Weekend!