It's Friday!

And here comes the next Freebie!

Wait, backstory!

'Cause I'm long winded and it's my blog so I can babble before I fill you in! ha!

A few weeks ago when I was sick (again) and feeling sorry for myself (again) and plagued with insomnia(again), I found myself blog stalking in the wee hours of the morning.

How I ended up HERE, I do not know. But I couldn't have been happier because I love all things apron and they were giving this away:

Too cute!

Apparently late night surfing pays off, because I won it. Yay me! But no, I'm not that generous, you don't get this one, I love it too much. But it inspired me with a new apron pattern, so it's not a total loss for you.

So what do you get?

This:

My new favorite apron!

(sorry the pictures stink. This is what happens when you have your kids taking pictures because you neglected to have your husband do so. dang.)

I am loving the green one so much (and it's getting so much use) that I needed another of the same style. And I'm in love with damask again, so I made myself a fun black and white.

Sophisticated damask, Sassy Ruffle. Thank heaven for aprons that make cooking fun!

Same rules apply to snag this little baby! Leave a comment for entry.

If you're feeling super helpful, you can mention your favorite meal to help me get out of the dinner time rut that I seem to have stuck myself in again. Because the kids don't like that I use cayenne to boost myself out of that rut. I don't know why.

They could all feel their tongues again within 48hrs. It wasn't that bad.

Extra entry for being a follower and for blogging about this freebie, please leave a separate comment for EACH entry.

Enter until Thursday August 6th at midnight MST. Winner will be announced next Friday August 7th along with the next Freebie!

And the winner is.....

The best way to kick off the weekend is with good news, right?

So let's get down to business. According to random.org, the winner for my favorite tutu is:

the whitehead's

Congraulations! And that works out wonderfully because apparently she has two little girls!

Please email me to claim your prize and get me your shipping info. (cateyball@yahoo.com)

Giveaway Reminder

Allrighty folks-last day to enter!

Make sure that you've left your comment on THIS post, and that you've left a comment for each entry (original comment, as well as a separate comment if you blogged about it, and one if you're a follower).

Winner will be posted tomorrow, along with the next Freebie!

Also-those of you who have mentioned you'd like to sponsor a giveaway, please email me at

cateyball@yahoo.com

and we'll get it all lined up. Thanks!

Brotherly Love

As a parent, it is always wonderful to see those special little moments when your kids get along particularly well, or when they stand up for one another or share in each others joy at accomplishments.

This morning Dallin was doing something as Lincoln looked on. When he got it done, Lincoln shouted out "He did it! Good Job Dallin! That's my brother!"

Aww....it just warmed my heart.

Of course, about 5 minutes later that same sweet little two year old brought me a movie and said "Let's watch Bug's Life. I like Bug's Life-it's my brother!"

Hmm.

When you're the schmuck

It happens. To all of us. Some of us more than others. But today, I am feeling like a schmuck.

You see, if you've read below, you know my little princess turned one last week. And on Sunday we threw a small party.

As much as I'd love to be one of those big party people that sends custom invites, has a whole decor theme (polkadot cupcake luau Kelsey!), coordinating goody bags, yada, yada, yada, I am not. If I had only one or two children, abso-stinkin-lutely I would be. If that were the case, we would also all still match in family pictures I'm sure. But really, at this point in time, I'm just glad if not more than one child is picking their nose, no one is crying and everyone has all articles of clothing still attached to their person in a picture. That should tell you something.

So let's be honest, our "big" birthday parties consist of an email or phone call and a few immediate family members. If I'm lucky I remember to call my grandparents and invite them should they happen to be in town. Although last time I invited them I neglected to mention what time. Oops. They guessed close enough and arrived only slightly early. Bless them.

Thus last week, after speaking to my parents and saying "We'll do Charli's party on Sunday, just dinner and a little cake thing around 5:30", I assumed everyone else knew too. I knew that my sister knew ('cause she called me), and I assumed that my parents would tell my brothers, who are roommates, one of whom works with my father, and who see my parents more than I do. My whole family lives within 10 minutes of each other except us, so I kinda figured they'd chat about it.

Well, you know what happens when you assume.

Yep.

So despite the fact that I know my dad mentioned it to my older brother (ha!), I would like to publicly apologize for not officially calling and inviting you to our house on Sunday which is what I should have done in the first place.

I stink.

Well, not literally I hope. I did put on deodorant today.

Maybe I should check my feet though.

I owe you a kalua pork in an air conditioned house. We missed you. I'm sorry.

Happy First Birthday Little Miss Charlotte!

I can't believe my baby is one!

This year has gone so fast-it always seems to, but I swear it goes faster with every kid. It just kills me.

Nothing too fancy or exciting, just simple and fun, with lots of under the chin tickling from Pompa.

Not to be left out, I caught the kids with a roll of foil on Friday night, they were wrapping up some of her favorite toys to give her for her birthday. Ok! I'm so bummed I don't have pictures.

We had her party on Sunday, a small simple affair, large in any way only because of the astronomical number of children we have. It was only our family, my parents, my sister, her husband and my neice, as well as Aaron's brother. Oh, our friend Greg joined us as well since his family is out of town and he's been home all alone for too long. It was fun to have him there, and he was a great sport with Dallin's idea for party games.

Thanks Greg!

After dinner we did cake, which apparently took too long for her liking.

Charlotte wasn't quite sure what to think about the whole candle thing, but of course Lincoln was willing to take care of that for her.

In the tradition of the first birthday smash, she got her own cake.

But there wasn't much smash going on since I had put it in the fridge and, well, it was a tad firm.

Whoops.

That's ok, she improvised!

That's my girl!

After a quick bath in the kitchen sink

And pulling cake out of her nose

and it was time for presents.

Malia made this cute frame for her (and has asked me 57 times today if I've printed a picture of her and Charlotte to fill it yet).

Beebs and Pomps gave Charlotte her first doll and stroller-a huge hit.

Daniel brought treats for everyone-yay treats!

But I have to say my favorite was the shoes. OH the shoes! My sister, bro-in-law and niece gave Charlotte these shoes:

Have you ever seen anything cuter? And right on cue, Charli got into the shoes.

Like I said, that's my girl!

And now my super cute Charlotte is a toddling little one year old with super cute shoes.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Making a Happy Home Monday

I have been on one of those rampages again lately. The good kind. You know, the kind that my husband doesn't mind. Or maybe it just drives him crazy in a different way and I don't notice. Who knows.

Every once in a while I just get bitten by that "holy crud! Everything just needs to be done!" bug. Which results in closets being cleaned out, drawers being organized, that kitchen counter FINALLY being cleaned off, all the little knicks in the wall being retouched, and today, the laundry room being totally cleaned out.

Our laundry room is just off the living room (I know, brilliant, right?), and serves as the entry to the house from the garage, so it's kind of like a short wide hallway. As much as I love having the laundry on the main floor and not in the basement, right off the living room is kind of odd. And with as much laundry as we go through and the fact that it is a convenient location for throwing everything that ends up in the living room that shouldn't be in the living room when someone drops by with short notice, I will readily admit that it is a rarity to be able to walk-unobstructed-from the garage to the living room or vice versa.

But now, hooray!

Yes people, this means that I get to hear that glorious proclamation from my husband that I heard a few weeks ago for the first time in a long time.

Those sweet words, "Hey! I can walk through the laundry room again!"

It makes me want to do a little happy dance in my happy yellow laundry room.

Sweet Tooth Sunday

This recipe is brought to you by the need for chocolate.

Thank you chocolate.

Let's celebrate a summertime favorite of the kiddies and make....Mud Pie!

Not this kind:

THIS kind:

Though that first variety is fun, it leaves a gritty aftertaste.

So I find myself tweaking things again. LL did a cookbook cleanout recently and sent me a book called "Everyday Chocolate". I haven't had nearly as much opportunity to dive into it as I'd like, but I have been flipping through and looking at pictures. It inspired me to make up some kind of mud pie, but since I'm not a huge coffee flavor fan, I needed to go all chocolate.

To make the crust, sift the flour and cocoa together.

No sifter? Use a pour them in and use a whisk-as long as you're not super picky about how fine it is, it works surprisingly well!

Rub the butter in, either with fingertips, a pastry cutter or cut it in with a couple of knives until everything is an even consistency.

Stir in the sugar and enough water until a soft dough forms.

Wrap and let chill in the fridge for about 15 minutes.

Roll out the dough and fit it into a tart pan or pie plate.

Poke it with a fork to prevent bubbling of the crust. Bake at 375 degrees for 15min.

To make the filling, beat butter and sugar together, then gradually add the eggs and cocoa.

Stir in the vanilla too.

Get yourself some good chocolate. I'm a big Ghiradelli fan, but Bakers is my next choice.

Today: Bakers.

Melt that until it's nice and smooth, then pour the cream and melted chocolate into the mixture you've already got going.

Beat it in there until it's a nice even, smooth consistency.

Pour that into the prebaked crust.

Bake at 325 degrees (yes, you turned the oven down, that's not a typo!) for 30-35min, until set gently. If you prefer a creamier less baked filling, go on the short side for time, or you could even reduce it a bit more. If you prefer it to be more baked and dense, you can go 35-40 minutes.

Let chill completely, then have some fun with whipping cream and chocolate shavings.

This one ended up even better then next day after sitting in the fridge overnight-it was more moist and rich and dense.....and now my mouth is watering all over again.

Mud Pie

Crust

1 1/4 c Flour

2 Tbsp Cocoa

1/2 c Butter

2 Tbsp Sugar

1-2 Tbsp cold water

Filling

3/4 c Butter

1 3/4 c Brown Sugar

4 Eggs, lightly beaten

6 oz Semi Sweet Chocolate

4 Tbsp Cocoa

1 1/4 c Cream

1 tsp vanilla

To make crust, sift flour and cocoa together, cut in butter until mixture is even. Stir in sugar and enough cold water to form soft dough. Wrap and chill for 15 minutes. Roll the dough out and place in tart pan or on pie plate. Poke with tines of fork to prevent bubbling. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 min.

Reduce oven to 325 degrees.

To make filling, beat butter and sugar together in bowl and gradually beat in eggs and cocoa. Stir in vanilla. Melt chocolate and beat into mixture along with cream. Mix until smooth. Pour into prebaked shell and bake at 325 degrees for 30-35 min or until filling is gently set.

Allow to cool, garnish with whipped cream and chocolate shavings. Keep in refrigerator.

They like me, They really like me! (and something new too....)

Too bad I can't come up with what that is from. Wait, wasn't it Sally Field? Which is funny because my mother looks freakishly like that woman.

But I digress.

It's time for the first round of the "fun news" that I mentioned before I was disconnected from the world.

It's time to say Thank You to you wonderful people! Why?

This is why:

Woo-hoo!

Thank you for voting-I'm so excited!

And to add to the fun, Life Moves Pretty Fast won honorable mention!

So to celebrate, I'm starting something new:

Yep, Freebies! Every Friday, my favorite things, Free for you.

Since my baby girl turns one year old tomorrow (ack!), this very first giveaway is all girlie.

My new favorite tutu:

I had an over whemling desire to add "shrimp" to my catalogue of tulle colors with my last order, but wasn't sure what I'd do with it....until it came packaged next to this lovely bright pink.

Voila! Love.

To Enter: Leave a comment. That's it! Say hi, leave your name, tell me how you ended up on this blog, what you ate for breakfast, your favorite color, how many diapers you've changed today, Whatever! If you're lacking in adult conversation lately, throw it all out there. Go ahead, just verbally vomit.

In addition, get an extra entry if you are a follower, or if you blog about the giveaway yourself -just leave another comment to let me know.

Enter until midnight on Thursday July 30th. Winner will be chosen using Random.org and announced here on Friday, July 31st, when the next giveaway will be posted.

*I have a few weeks lined up and I'm hoping to make this a regular feature here so I would love to add to that list! If you would like to be featured/sponsor a giveaway, please let me know!