Family Pictures

This pretty much sums up our family picture photo shoot! Don't all my children look so happy and cooperative? I think Macy is plugging her ears in this picture. How funny! It was complete chaos but also a lot of fun! I can't believe the shots our photographer was able to get with our children running all over the place. Half the time we were chasing Nicholas and trying to keep him out of the streets of downtown Corvallis. He was determined to get away! I was so worried that none of his pictures would turn out but now I think his are the cutest! Wouldn't you know, he fell asleep the minute we got back in the car.


I have to laugh at Mark. He was such a great help to pack the diaper bag and the only treats he stuck in there were M&M's and chocolate Teddy Grahams. Are you kidding me? Our kids looked like they had dirt all over their faces by the time we were done taking pictures from all of our bribery! I don't think you can edit that out! I love the pictures though! They totally capture our real life! I'll post more when I get all of them back! This is just a sneek peak! You can see more pictures here. Kim Greenfield took our pictures and she did a beautiful job. She was so relaxed and cute with our family! We loved her! Thanks, Kim! They are perfect!

Good Southern Cookin'

We hosted dinner club at our house Saturday night and wanted to expose these Northwesterners to some good southern BBQ. We had pulled pork sandwiches with coleslaw and some homemade sauces (compliments of Al & Alyssa Mackelprang) that were all the rave! I made cornbread and banana pudding and freshly squeezed lemonade. Others in the group contributed baked beans, homemade Macaroni & Cheese and fried Okra. It was all so delicious and took us back to our days in South Carolina. We miss you guys... and the food!

Mark's co-worker at the children's clinic in South Carolina shared her famous banana pudding recipe with us! Thanks, Donna! It was my personal favorite dish of the night!

Banana Pudding Recipe:
1 (8 oz) container of Cool Whip thawed
2 cups milk
1 (5 oz) pkg of Instant Vanilla pudding
1 (8oz) container of Sour Cream
1 box Vanilla Wafers
4-6 Bananas
1 Hershey bar

Stir milk and pudding mix together. Add your sour cream and cool whip. Alternate layers of vanilla wafers, bananas and pudding mix in a 9 by 13 glass dish. End with pudding on top. Add chocolate shavings. Chill. Delicious!

A little, red "spicey" BBQ sauce and Al's original Maple Mustard Sauce. They both turned out just perfect and were oh, soooo good!

Kids and Leashes

The twins haven't been lasting very long in their stroller so I picked up these child restraints at Target just to give them a little independence when we're out and about. They are super cute and soft and have a cute little furry friend that hugs them from behind and that seconds as a backpack. I'm sure people are going to think I'm one of those crazy moms that leash my kids but I just wanted to give them a try to see how they fared. The twins are at that stage where they love to run in opposite directions and always away from me. This video is from the first day we tried them on. They were loving being tugged and pulled around. I caught Macy taking Nicholas for a little ride. I had to share!