All the Small Things...

Scarlet Turns SEVEN!!!

more to come...

About Last Night...

This is about the quickest meal ever, but one of Dan's favorites.  I'm sure you can buy these DELICIOUS meatballs at other places, but I get mine at Costco.  I discovered them by tasting a sample and was hooked!  I'm actually one of those people who buy what they're sampling!

Anyway, I cook up the whole lot (and it is a lot) and with the leftovers, I cut them up into smaller pieces and serve them over rice the next night.  I make a sauce out of the leftover marinade by adding some butter to it.  About a 5 minute meal.  You can't beat that!

Horton Hears a Who Wooden Blocks...

(click on image to enlarge, as usual)

I made these blocks for Michelle for her birthday.  Why Horton Hears a Who?  Well, her husband, Ken Daurio, wrote the MOVIE !  How cool is that?!?!!  Wasn't it GREAT?!?!?!

Obviously this movie holds a very special place in her heart, so I knew she'd love the blocks and she did!

Here are the instructions... make some!  They're so easy and fun to do!

Plus- tracing paper, pencil, sand paper and stamping ink

The last step is to add layers of Modge Podge to all sides of the blocks.  The key is to add a lot of thin layers and to have the bottom layer COMPLETELY dry before adding the next layer.  This is extremely easy, but will take some time to do because of the drying time.

Dinner Tonight...

Summer Days #25

So for tonight's dessert I whipped up these cuties...

Are you ever looking for a quickie dessert that looks and tastes like you spent a lot of time on it?  Well this is the one I turn to.  This mix always goes on sale at Ralph's for $.99... a cute dessert for $.99?  You can't beat that!

So instead of putting the mix in a pan and cutting it into squares, I like to pour the batter into decorated cupcake liners.  So much cuter, huh?  These cute star ones are from Joann's.   

Anyway, just follow the directions on the box, but instead of pouring the batter into a pan, use the muffin liners and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.  After removing the baked brownies, immediately add an M&M to the top while it is still soft, so it sticks.

Change the liners and candy color for each holiday or party theme...

Cheap, fast, easy and really tasty!

P.S.  I CAUGHT UP ON MY POSTS!!!  I can't believe it!  Yeah!!!

Summer Days #24

 

After we spent a fun day swimming, Grammy, Pa and Gavin came over and Dan and Chandler put on a fantastic fireworks show on our street.  We only had one Sparkler burn incident... Miss Scarlet (burn blister between the toes), but she survived and we all had fun watching our little illegal fireworks show on our front yard on our new adirondack chairs.

After our show, we ate Grammy's delicious 4th of July strawberry shortcake cake.  Is that right?  Shortcake cake?  I'm not sure, but it was delicious and the perfect end to a delightful summer's day...

How GORGEOUS is that cake???  Delish too!

Summer Days #23

 

Well, our 4th of July was a blast!  We started off the day with our church's traditional 8:00 am 4th of July Breakfast and bike parade.  We watched the scouts do the flag ceremony and then ate yummy pancakes, eggs and bacon with friends.  After breakfast, the kids rode in the bike and scooter parade on their decorated vehicles.  We always have so much fun watching this crazy parade and just pray that no one falls too hard!  We escaped all injuries this year!  

The Bateman's brought some of their fun show dogs, so KK was in heaven!  They even brought a prarie dog in a big plastic ball!  The animals were hit!

After breakfast we hung out at home and relaxed a little and then I started cooking for our backyard BBQ.  Cherry Coke ribs, chicken curry salad, strawberry and feta cheese salad, baked beans, twice baked potatoes, grilled corn on the cob, watermelon punch, cupcakes and strawberry shortcake!  My mom and I tend to cook for an army!  

We ate outside in our backyard and the weather was perfect.  Great food, great company... what more could we ask for?  

After our BBQ we headed out to the Channel Island Harbor to walk around the street fair, see the boats and watch fireworks.  It was a really pretty place to walk around and, of course, they were serving fabulous street fair food and drinks.

When people started finding places to watch the fireworks, we found a great spot right on the water's edge and set up our chairs there.  It was so fun to snuggle up under our blankets, people watch and watch the boats come in and out of the harbor.  Then right as the fireworks started, Dan delivered us hot bowls of clam chowder and we sat and ate chowder while watching the fireworks over the water.  It was delightful!  

Summer Days #22

So you know how your mom told you to "always return things as you got them"?  Well right before Patrick's party, I was frantically driving around trying to find roasting stick and just couldn't find them, so I called Michelle and asked her if I could borrow her super duper fancy smancy Restoration Hardware telescopic, spinning marshmallow roasters.  She, of course, was lovely and let me borrow them without hesitation.

So, when I returned them back to her, I returned them in this cute little bag that I made for her.  How perfect is this fabric that I happened to have?  Love when that happens!  So the moral of the story is... you don't always have to return things how you got them... make them better!

Thanks again, Michelle!

So, we've never done this before, but I'm SO glad we did...  We headed out to Moorpark for their annual July 3rd fireworks show.  It was such a great kick off to the holiday and a great show too!

A very fun night!

What I'm Reading...

So far I'm LOVING it!  I'll let you know more when I'm done!

Summer Days #21

When I heard our friends, the Daurios, were headed up to Big Bear for the 4th of July, I knew they had to take the most DELICIOUS, most REFRESHING drink I've ever tasted with them.  

It is honestly unbelievable.  I first tried something like it at The Four Seasons Hotel called the Nojito and then at book club last year my dear friend, MINETTE DALAND  (be sure to check out her website Ruffles and Ric Rak where she sells her AMAZING blankets!!!) made it and I was haunted by the taste.  I know that sounds ridiculous, but I was.  I seriously thought about that drink a million times since I first drank it and I finally recently asked Minette if she'd give me the recipe and she agreed!  THANK YOU, MIN!!!

I made this for Dan's birthday party and everyone there died over it, and demanded the recipe.  I'm not kidding... it was the hit of the night!

So what you see in the bag is 1/2 of a medium watermelon crushed and frozen.  YUM!  On the cute watermelon tag is the recipe for the drink.