Weird phone pictures

The kids love to get a hold of my phone and take pictures.  Bella takes pictures of everyone and everything.  Alex takes pictures of himself.
I showed some of the pictures that Bella took already.  Here is Alex.

and this next one he added so that my friends can recognize me 

looks alot like me, doesn't it?

I have to admit, I took these next pictures with his nerd glasses

he looks like his uncle in this next picture, too bad it's blurry

and the professor deep in thought

RT and his Beetle friends

Sounds like a musical post, but it isn't.  Maybe the pictures can be set to music. 
Every summer RT enjoys catching japanese beetles that land on two of the bushes in our yard.  He puts them in a bottle and keeps the bottle in the sun. (it's his way of torturing them)
This year, we thought we were beetle free until I found some while RT was gone.  I mentioned that they were back, and RT got to work.

this next picture I took, trying to get a close up so you can see the beetle

RT decides to shake the whole bush and they all went flying around

I screamed and one of them landed in my hair 

trying to show the clusters of them

also trying not to get to close incase RT decides to shake the bush again 

For now he will be on the back deck catching beetles.  I'll give you an update on when he has caught the last beetle.

Walking the Paths - Backyard Edition, Part II

I couldn't fit all of the fun in one post.  I won't make this a regular thing, but, I had to put a few more fun pictures and commentary's in there for you. 
I can tell it was SUCH a popular post (not).
Well, let's go ahead with it anyway, shall we?
Here is a house that backs up to the pond.  The house has always fascinated me, the backyard doesn't do a thing for me.  Very plain.  (well, when I took this picture they added pottted plants to the patio)

A fence around the yard, makes it a little cozier 

small yard, needs a little excitement if you ask me

large yard

the trees hide the house

some pictures of the pond

and flowers along the path 

and the last yard for our series

that white part is the patio

This picture is a little better

literally the size of a postage stamp

This concludes our Walking the Paths-Backyard Edition.  I do hope you enjoyed viewing the yards.

Happy Fourth!

Hope you are enjoying the holiday.  We braved the heat and attended out town's parade.

the mayor

Bella and RT got to walk in the parade for the baseball league

Thats Bella in the gray shirt looking for candy

Have a great (and safe) holiday!

Girl's Week

All good things must come to an end.
Even Girl's Week.
The boys returned late Saturday night (while we were finishing up our Bedazzling Nightmare).
It's ok.  Bella and I had fun during the week.  Besides the zoo and all of the other fun we listed, we did crafts, played lego's (Lego Friends), had some girl time, pool time, walks with Newton.  There was also lots of cleaning time (cleaned both boys rooms)(and survived) and, even had a chance to catch up on my sock mending.

yes, I mend socks

Newton helped 

Our garden is taking off, thanks to the rain we FINALLY got

the zucchini is taking off.  not sure if that is good or bad. 

I know we will have so much we won't know what to do with it.

Zucchini toothpaste, anyone? 

The temperature last Thursday, in the shade (a balmy 100F)

Almost forgot, we went to see the movie, Brave

that's us in the theater, before they told us to turn off your phone

My mom and brother, Steve, came over with some yummy spaghetti sauce

Bella took these pictures and had to include one of Newton

she also took another 20 pictures and videos and wore my battery down opening every app on there

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=

The glitter and polish and frills have not been put away. 

We will still be our girly selves, just with boys around.

Bedazzling with the Bedazzler

Yes.  I finally got my hands on a bedazzler.  Very exciting day for me.  Found my bedazzler at the village's Trash to Treasures (a big community garage sale).  New in box.  I think it is one of the originals. 

All that is included (including Bella's dinner)

Thought we were missing pieces, but, one was attached to the bedazzler

We got it set up and Bella selected her design.  We had some plain tank tops to embellish and we were quite excited.
The process was fun at first, but, we found that the "jewels" (or studs) were't going through the fabric easily.  I had to check each stud/jewel that we put on to make sure that the prongs were through the shirt and they were not sticking out. 
After about an hour of frustration...

Bella and her Bedazzling beaded Turtle tank

Final thoughts?  There might be a newer version of the Bedazzler out there on the market.  Hopefully it has been improved.  This kit was difficult to get to work properly and was quite frustrating.  While we were Bedazzling, I kept thinking of ways to improve the tool.  A handheld gun-like tool would be cool to operate.
It was fun to make a shirt dazzling.  I still have my shirt to beautify.  I'm not sure if I will be bedazzling it, tho.

Bacon Browines

Going to a housewarming party today and we are to bring something with bacon in it.  I chose Bacon Brownies.  Why?  I don't know.  Thought I would bring something different, I guess.  Something that no other normal person would bring.  This is not a recipe that I made up, I found the recipe here.  There were some good reviews for it so I thought, why not?

Here is the recipe for Bacon Brownies
(taken directly from Allrecipes.com, click here for original)

Ingredients

• 1/4 pound bacon, cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8-inch square baking dish.
2. Fry bacon in a skillet over medium-high heat until nearly crisp, about 5 minutes. Add honey and stir until the foaming subsides. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon to a plate to cool.
3. Mix melted butter, brown sugar, white sugar, and vanilla extract in a large bowl; mix in eggs.
4. Sift flour, cocoa powder, and salt together in a bowl; add to the egg mixture. Fold bacon and chocolate chips into the mixture; pour into the prepared baking dish.
5. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 25 to 35 minutes. Allow brownies to cool for 20 minutes before cutting into squares.

They were a hit.  (forgot to take pictures, they looked like normal brownies) Saved a few for RT and the boys.  RT ate them all and said they were great.