Emma's 3rd Birthday Party!

My baby turns 3 tomorrow. I've already had a good cry about it. She's growing up too fast *sigh*.

On a positive note, her party was today! After all the planning and prep, it was finally here!

The day did not start out with smiles...

In fact, we had some tears!

But a strawberry can make anything better!

Trying to show me how old she is. (We've been practicing!)

Finally! A good (strawberry-y) smile!

Running to the bounce house!

All the kids lined up! (Em has her cup, ha!)

Time for presents! 

Cake Time!

Em got a little embarrassed by everyone singing "Happy Birthday"

Daddy had to point out where she should be blowing!

For some reason, she insisted on taking balloons into the bounce house!

Kinsley & Emma taking off!

Love that happy face!

Speaking of the bounce house, at the end of the party, even the adults took a turn! Clinton took some video!

Birthday Countdown

I've started getting ready for Em's birthday!

Kool-Aid Play-Dough favors are DONE!

Some colors turned out better than others!!

My friend Amber from Olive Gypsy dropped off some cookies for the party! Thanks again, Amber!

Aren't they perfect for a Strawberry Shortcake party??

Speaking of cookies...

I took some cookies to MDO today so Emma could celebrate her birthday with her school friends!

I just stopped at a local bakery and picked out some Halloween cookies!

Emma (& all the other kids) just ate the icing! Ha!

The Power of Prayer

I posted HERE asking for prayers for Ryder Harris, my friend, Tiffany's, baby girl. At the time, she was about to undergo open heart surgery. Today, she is thriving and just the cutest little thing!!! Tiffany posted HERE about how God has blessed them! I am so happy for them! Thanks to all my readers who sent up prayers for this sweet family!

Party Prep #2- Flavored Popcorn Test

 Yesterday was Paris's Pumpkin Festival. We had a booth for our Southern Swag glasses with some friends.

Laney, Regan, ME, Rachel, & Jill

Clinton brought Emma to the festival to visit us and enjoy the activities. The "Swag Kids" did a little advertising for us while they were there!

"Buy some SWAG from my Mommy!"

Colt, Livi, & Em

Ok, I just had to throw that in there to tell where the idea of the popcorn came from! Clinton bought Emma this bag of blue popcorn while they were there. It was raspberry flavored kettle corn. This morning, Clinton and my mom both said, "You should make this for favors for Emma's party." Then Clinton tells me "It's just gelatin and Karo syrup", so I thought I'd try it. When I printed the recipe out that Clinton had found, it was a lot more complicated than that, but I'd already committed myself to trying it... :(


Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Pop a bag of popcorn. We use Light Butter anyway, but I would think it would be best to use Light or No butter popcorn. Spread popped popcorn on a greased cookie sheet.

Butter a saucepan. Then mix 1 cup butter, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 3oz. pkg. fruit flavored gelatin (we used strawberry, of course), 1 tbsp. corn syrup, 3 tbsp. water in saucepan. Cook over medium heat until it reaches 250 to 265 degrees on a candy thermometer.

The photographer was not given permission to take this!

Pour mixture evenly over popcorn and stir until coated.

See how black the bottom of my pan got!! Mixture doesn't taste burned though!

Messy business.

Bake popcorn for five minutes, stir, then bake for five more minutes. Turn popcorn out onto a piece of foil.

You can form it into balls or let cool completely and break into clusters.

It tastes a little like caramel corn with a strawbery kick. Clinton loves it. I'm still undecided on making some for favors, but at least Em and Clinton will have a snack for a few days.

I found it on Pinterest!

My all time fave new website is Pinterest! My favorite new time waster is Pinterest! My new favorite place to find things, anything, Pinterest! I've posted about it before on here, but I thought I would share the things that I've pinned and actually made, done, etc.

I made THIS!!

I found it through Pinterest, which led me to a food blog, where the recipe was posted HERE!

Here is the recipe in case you don't want to check out the original blog!

2 small tubes refrigerator buttermilk biscuits OR 1 tube Pillsbury Grands buttermilk biscuits
3 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted
1/2 C. syrup
1/3 C. packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 C. chopped pecans, opt.
1/4 C. chopped almonds, opt.

Spray a fluted pan with non-stick spray. Combine the melted butter and syrup in a small bowl and set aside. In another bowl, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, and nuts (if desired). Place about half of the syrup mixture in the bottom of the pan. Then sprinkle half of the brown sugar mixture on top. Lay the biscuits on the bottom of the pan, overlapping edges (closely together) to form a ring. Top with remaining syrup and sugar mixtures. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 1 minute in the pan, then invert onto a serving platter and enjoy!

Emma helped me make them! Before I move on to the other stuff I've gotten from Pinterest, here are some shots of her helping!

Yup! That's biscuit dough on her nose. Only my child.

I've made this...

Picture copied from Pinterest!

But I didn't make it healthy like the original post, so I'm not going to link it. I just used store bought dough (cut into circles), sauce, cheese, & mini pepperonis. Emma LOVED them!

I made this...

Not my picture! Copied from Pinterest!

I found it on Pinterest, which took me to this food blog post HERE! I cut the recipe into half, and we still ate on it for 3 days!!

I made this...

Picture copied from Pinterest!

I found it on Pinterest, which took me to this food blog and this recipe post HERE! They tasted good, but didn't get good and crunchy like they would have if fried!


That's it for food!

I made these...

I found the idea of Pinterest, which took me to this blog post HERE! I used the cans in Emma's room! You can see them in this picture!

I got this idea....

Which I've already posted about HERE!

There are some other ideas that I have cooking that I got inspiration from Pinterest. In case you can't tell I love it!! In fact, I'm making it where you can follow me on Pinterest through this blog! Yup! I am! Just click the "Follow Me On Pinterest" Button!

Ok! Enough already. Check out Pinterest! I'm going to bed!

Smith Family Reunion

This past weekend was the big Smith Family Reunion Camp Out! I am just now getting the pictures posted because I came home with a stomach bug. As I am still feeling tired, I am just going to post pictures. You can fill in the blanks!

Wait, wait, wait a minute... who sells a jar of "water" in an auction? ;)