Calmer days

The kids went back home Sunday and it has been so quiet around here (which I LOVE!!) and things are getting back to normal. Life becomes a little too hectic for me when they are with us, and I'll just leave it at that to keep from sounding like a complete witch. Everyone tells me that it's difficult for all step parents, but it's hard for me to believe that it's THIS HARD for everyone. I had to pray for patience all the time to keep from slapping one of them for their language and attitudes! And I finally realized that if I do ever have kids, I'll probably be one of those mamas that gets locked up for "child abuse" cause they got caught spankin their youngun in the grocery store! (OK, I know that child abuse is a very serious thing, and I hope none of you are offended by that, but when you spank a kid that's throwing a temper tantrum cause they aren't getting their way it is NOT child abuse) Yep, I'll be like those old ladies carrying their switches around with them!! LOL But until then I am quite satisfied with my "baby". Here's some pictures of her most recent trip to the beach. She actually got out in the water this time!!

So, I'm not exactly a 365er anymore...

...but I've decided that it's quite alright. The world did not end. LOL

It is still extremely hectic in our little household. The kids are still here and I do believe that the cousins have decided to just live here as well. Construction (well, deconstruction, actually) has officially started on the cottage. They are tearing out ceilings and insulation that was still inside, and replacing windows and doors. I have one pic of the outside now, but I want to wait until the new windows and doors go in to start doing some before/after posts. So exciting!!

This past weekend, it was Mike's daughter's choice of "family activity". She decided to do 4-wheeling. Mike's sister and her husband loaded all the "toys" up and hauled them out to their land for our day of fun. My fun was actually at the end of the day when all the kids actually wanted to go to bed instead of the usual staying up all night!

Mike, his son, his sister, and her two boys (the cousins).
This is his youngest daughter. She doesn't like being photographed and would probably die if she knew I had this one!
And finally, his son again. He had an absolute blast driving us around on the golf cart.

I don't know what day I should be on...

so I thought I'd post a few of what's been going on the past few days. While I have some spare time (aka: not doing laundry, dishes, cooking or picking up after younguns!)

These are Mike's nephews on the lovely Spiderman slip-n-slide. It wasn't slippery enough so the kids put dish liquid on it to make them slide faster! And I've been wondering what ever happened to the plain old yellow slip-n-slide. Can you even buy those any more?

This is what we did on Saturday. Or attempted to do anyway. The fish weren't biting, the crabs didn't want anything to do with our delicious chicken necks we were trying to feed them, and Mike couldn't even manage to catch any bait fish. And it was so stinkin hot we just decided to pack it all up and come on home.

And today, I made this blueberry pound cake. It was absolutely wonderful!! And so simple to make!! For any of you that might like to try it here's the recipe:


1 yellow cake mix
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup oil
3 eggs
2 cups blueberries


Mix first four ingredients. Coat berries in flour and fold into cake mixture. Bake in a well greased bundt pan at 325 for one hour or until done. For glaze, mix 2 cups powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla (or 1 to 2 tsp lemon juice) and 1/2 cup hot water.


I made the entire amount of glaze using lemon juice and it was very good, but it makes a lot of it. I think the next time I will only make half of the glaze.

So, I found my camera...

This is my brother's little girl. The pic is from the fourth, and I've been trying to upload it since Monday, but haven't been able to cause our internet goes all screwy! But isn't she just adorable!! On our beaches we don't really have pretty shells, but after digging around for a while she did find this piece of one. She was so excited to find it! We had a great Fourth of July. Did some cooking on the grill and had homemade ice cream!!

For an update on the cottage, it's being rebuilt on a very SMALL budget, but I got an exciting little tidbit of info yesterday. We may be getting solid cherry cabinetry and granite counter tops!!!! The contractor is a friend of ours and her brother is friends with a guy that does cabinets and counter tops. So keep your fingers crossed!! I was just excited that I would finally have my own kitchen and would have been happy with plain old laminate, so needless to say, I am just beyond excited about this little possibility!! We've also decided to acid stain the concrete floor in the kitchen and living room so I can't wait to see how that turns out.

Also, the kids are here and their cousins have also been staying with us. So we now have 3 adults, 2 teenagers, 2 children, and 2 dogs living in this house. There hasn't been one dull moment all week, but it has also gone much more smoothly than the previous summers. I am so relieved about that and hope it stays that way!!