it's better in the bahamas

i can't think of a better way to celebrate turning 40 years old and celebrating 13 years of marriage. mike turned 40 in april and i'll turn 40 in june. our 13 year wedding anniversary is also in june. so we celebrated with a quiet trip to the bahamas. Harbour Island is such a beautiful place. and it's just what we needed...nothing to do their except relax. we read books, took naps, met some great people and just enjoyed being a couple again. this was our first trip without the boys. we're so lucky that my parents moved into our house and took care of the boys....i can't thank them enough! i love flying in the little puddle jumper airplanes and learned years ago that the secret to flying in them is to NOT get drunk the night before. small planes, and hangovers = barf bags. and though we were celebrating on this trip, i curbed my cocktail intake until we had our feet on Harbour Island. i love the view from the airplane when the water turns this beautiful blue. it's a sure sign that you're somewhere other than Kansas.
after landing at the North Eleuthera airport we took a 5 minute taxi ride to hop on a water taxi to take us to Harbour Island. Harbour Island is a small island and you only need a golf cart to get around. we opted to walk most of our time there. we did rent a cart one day and had a good time. seems like there were lots of locals there and they are really nice. the restaurants were usually full but the beach was usually pretty empty. it was almost like having your own private beach. the sand is pink and it's beautiful.

the owner of the b&b we stayed at, John, organized a boat trip one day. along with others staying at the b&b we hung out all day going from one spot to another. he took us to some other tiny islands where nobody was and it was amazing.

our boat driver, Robert, stopped and picked up this star fish for us. after examining it, we threw him back in. it was amazing to see the starfish, sting ray and other fish just right there swimming by the boat.

the day mike and i rented a golf cart we headed from one side of the island to the other. we went off the map and off the paved road. we saw some beautiful homes, owned mostly by famous people. we found an empty lot, parked the golf cart and walked towards the beach. this was the view from the top of the lot. oh how i would love to build a house here! this view was incredible. we headed down to the beach and we were the only ones there.

this is a house, on the bay side, that i wanted to buy. it's not for sale, and even if it was we wouldn't actually move to the bahamas....but i always want to move where i vacation, so this was the house i picked.

and then we saw this house and IT IS for sale! no view of the bay or beach. a true fixer upper, and only for a mere $500,000. gulp!

we stayed at the Bahama House Inn. the owner, John, is a terrific fun loving guy. he's owned this place for 11 years. he just put it on the market to sell and you can imagine my conversation with mike about how i've always wanted to run a B&B and that this would be so perfect. needless to say, after a short discussion, we will not be moving to Harbour Island and buying this place. good old mike, always the one to stay the course and keep me from spontaneous, money draining, ventures. but if we could i would buy this place in a second...even after reading Don't Stop the Carnival!

the porch at Bahama House Inn. we ate breakfast here and started happy hour here.

kitchen inside Bahama House....

photo of us with John at Bahama House Inn. sure signs of a good vacation: meeting locals, eating great food, hoping on a strangers golf cart drunk at 12:30am because they are heading to grab some bbq'd ribs. which turned out to be some of the best bbq we've ever had! and not wanting to leave. thanks John! we had a great time!

the big dig birthday party

maguire had his big dig birthday party and fun was had by all. i went early to set up and to hide tons of treasures in the sand. it took longer than i planned to bury all of the tiny toys and i for sure didn't plan on it being in the upper 80's! but i got it all done and was glad i brought a big jug of lemonade because we were sure going to need it.

the kids each had sand buckets, with their names on them. in each bucket was a shovel and a pair of sunglasses. i thought the last thing we needed was sand in the eyes and they seemed to work relatively well.
caution tape designated the area that had all the buried toys. they loved digging and yelled every time they found something. they all shared really well too. they found frogs, snakes, parachute guys, army men, cats, magnifying glass, and all kinds of other fun things.

after the dig we were all hot and settled down under the pavilion for lemonade and cheese and strawberries on a stick. they looked through their buckets of treasures and then some played with the parachute guys and some went back to the pit for more digging. they also each had a black beanbag in their buckets and we used that for the dump truck game. we divided into two teams and each person tried to toss the beanbag into the bed of the dump truck. it was fun and in true boy fashion became competitive quickly.

the party favors were their buckets with their treasures that they found, a black bean bag, sunglasses and then we topped them off with a large cookie. large cookies have become my standard party favor. i wanted to make a wheel, but them remembered that black frosting is a mess, to work with and on your teeth later! so we just did orange circles with the number 6 on them. we opened presents at home and that was so much less stress than previous years. maguire said this was his favorite birthday party.....he says that every year!

the back porch tag sale

if you live in kansas city, you won't want to miss this fun sale. the back porch tag sale will be friday, june 6th (9am-6pm) and saturday, june 7th (9am-5pm). hand-mades by local artisans, eclectic finds for the home and garden presented in an adorable venue in downtown overland park. it is at the ever so cute home (7612 w. 80th street) of ms. marilyn who herself sells beautiful handmade items. i'll have a batch of trays (some i'm still working on, but will have them done in time for the sale) and also some painted furniture and other fun finds. last year i also baked up some yummy cookies to sell and they were a big hit. i plan to do the same this year. this is such a fun sale, so many talented girls together in one place. i'm jumping up and down in my seat just thinking about it. i've also graciously volunteered to bring lunch on saturday to all the artists. i have some fun lunch ideas running through my little head and am looking forward to presenting an oh so cute lunch to my group of hungry and very creative friends! i hope you'll be able to make it to the sale....you won't be disappointed.

six

we had maguire's family birthday party this past weekend. and on wednesday he turned six. his birthday request was for breakfast in bed. usually he's a little bit of a grump in the mornings and begs for "just 2 more minutes". but how can you be a grump when your mom, dad and little brother come loudly singing down the hallway HAPPY BIRTHDAY?! he woke up with a huge smile on his face. he also looked taller, and seemed more grown up. he quickly informed me that "now that i'm 6, there are lots of things i can do better now". his examples were making his own breakfast and looking after his little brother more. those first 5 years sure went by quickly. seven more days of kindergarten and we'll have a first grader on our hands. i'm afraid to blink....everything is going so quickly! it's been quite a week for him. a family birthday party on saturday, actual birthday on wednesday and his "big dig" friend party coming up on sunday. happy birthday baby!

block party

i live on a great street and one of my favorite things about it is that we have block parties. one in the spring and another one in the fall. i enjoy all of my neighbors and it's nice to get together outside for a meal and conversation.

hosting a block party is really easy. i made these invites because i can't host something without making a crazy invitation (i know, i'm thinking about going to therapy for it!) but you can easily call everyone or print out an easy flyer with all the details. for ours, everyone brings a side dish to share, lawn chairs and a couple of us chip in for hotdogs, drinks and necessities like plates, napkins, ect. we also have a cake walk and yummy cakes are brought by all and everyone enjoys playing and especially winning!

our street also participates in a yearly garage sale. it's a fun few days and the kids enjoy setting up lemonade stands.

get to know your neighbors by creating a block party....it's lots of FUN!

french breakfast puffs

i don't know that i've ever heard or seen constant thunder and lighting like it was doing last night. wow, what a huge storm. the air is crisp and cool this morning and with the breeze blowing through the window it hit me to do some baking. the name for this recipe may sound more uptown than backroads, but this is one of the most delicious muffins. french breakfast puffs are easy to make, smell great while baking and when made into mini muffins they are perfect for tiny hands. enjoy!

the recipe:

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp. salt

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1/3 cup butter, melted

topping:

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 cup melted butter

preheat oven to 350 degrees.

combine the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, nutmeg and salt. make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. in another bowl beat egg slightly; stir in milk and 1/3 cup melted butter. add egg mixture to flour mixture. stir just till moistened. lightly grease muffin cups. fill 2/3 full with batter. bake for 20-25 minutes (mini muffins bake 11-13min) or until golden.

in a shallow bowl combine the 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon. immediately dip tops of hot muffins into the 1/4 cup melted butter, then into the cinnamon sugar mixture till coated.

happy may day

we made a very cute may basket for the neighbor and dang it, i forgot to take a photo of it. i hate when that happens. we cut down a cardboard orange juice container, wrapped it with oh so pretty paper and plunked our flowers in. the handle was made out of white tulle and a sign that said "happy may day" finished it off. this is the 3rd year we've done this for our neighbor and maguire loves the idea of ringing the doorbell and then running as fast as he can to a hiding spot, so careful not to be seen. we spy on her as she opens her door and see's the may basket sitting there. we can feel her joy as she carefully picks it up and takes it inside. we high five to each other to another successful year in not being caught! i did may baskets when i was little and i get a kick out of doing this activity with maguire. the lesson learned is just that it's fun to be nice to others. since i failed to get a photo of our may day basket, these are just photos of some flowers that bloomed in are garden today.

worms and bubbles

yesterday was such a beautiful day to be outside. i think we were outside for most of it. it was so nice we didn't even want to come in. but all good things come to an end, we sure made the best of it though! maguire found this new friend....worm. this kept him occupied for a few minutes.

little cooper had such a fun time playing with bubbles. he loved to just lay in the grass and watch them blow over his head.

but since he doesn't sit still long, it didn't take long for him to realize that he could chase and pop them! i love these new found experiences for little people. it makes me slow down, really enjoy the day and remember how simple things can be.