French Press Cozy

Last weekend my sister came up for a visit with her three kiddos.  

While she was here we had an agenda of things to do:

1. Go to the museum
2. Eat cupcakes
3. Visit cousin at her restaurant
4. Get projects done!

I can happily report that we completed our list.

I will be glad to go into a bit more depth on the completion of this list in a later post.

For now I wanted to share a little project that my sister made for Hunky Hubby's french press.

He had been wanting something to help his coffee stay warm longer.

She wanted to make him a little thank you for being such a great brother-in-law. (o.k., it's really  because his birthday is coming up)

She used a snap on the closure (in case you were wondering).  She made the pattern up as she went so sorry, but there is nowhere to link you up with to get the measurements. 

We aren't so great at tutorials and explain our creative genius. ;)

What I really love is that she used some of my favorite fabric that I've had stashed and couldn't get the nerve up to use on a project.  Does that ever happen to you? 

So thanks sis! Hunky Hubby's coffee is nice and cozy now.

Woods Adventure

One of the great things about being a home schooling family is when you wake up to a really great day, you can put the school work aside for an hour or two and take the kids for a hike in the woods.

This happened on Monday.  I walked outside in the morning (which is unusual) and it felt like it was going to be one of those amazingly beautiful days. Have you ever walked outside and felt a really beautiful day? 

It smells different, cleaner, more pure.  It tastes good, like fresh crisp spring water.  It feels like soft velvet that has been warmed in the sun brushing against your fingertips. And when you step outside and sense all of these things, you know.  You know it is going to be one of those amazingly perfect, gorgeous days. 

So you toss the schedule into the trash bin and you take your kids for a walk through the golden beauty of God's creation.

We live just a short drive away from a segment of the Ice Age Trail.  This is a trail that crosses the entire state of WI. (you can see a map of the trail in the yellow sign behind Tate)  It is well maintained and easy to walk in all of the sections that I have walked it.

I love the excitement the boys have at the prospect of a woods adventure! Is there anything better to a boy than exploring the woods, climbing rocks, and gamboling over stick strewn paths?

I suppose we could have added water.  And mud!  That would have made it perfect.

No hike is complete without a doggy companion. 

Who else will run as exuberantly up and down hills, over rocks, and through woods, as a dog? 

Since it is early spring here, we only saw a few blooms.  But no matter how few you find, they are still amazingly intricate in their design and beauty.  That's one of the things I love about taking my sons out into the woods.  It gives us ample opportunities to marvel at our amazing, creative, creator God.

And what adventure would be an adventure if you left your sword at home? 

No worries! Seth brought one for all of the slaying or swash buckling he may need to do.  After all, you never know what dangers you may be lurking in the woods.

It's good to know I was thoroughly protected.

I would encourage you to take advantage of the next day that dawns as one of those golden opportunity kind of days.  Scrap the schedule, take the kids out of school if you have to, and go out and enjoy what God has made.

Together.

You won't regret it.

This is Spring!

When you live in the Northwoods you need to be ready for anything!

A month ago, we broke out the shorts and T-shirts.

Today, we may be breaking out the snow boots.

Seriously, we have at least 3 inches of snow.
 Earlier this week, we were finally getting the rain we really needed.
Before that we were running around in jeans and T-shirts.

Many people who live in the area will be shocked and depressed at this change in weather.

However, a true local knows that this is spring in Wisconsin.

By the end of the day the snow will be gone. When the sun finally breaks through those clouds again, just wait and see what happens.
An explosion of vibrant colors all through the fields and forests. 
It'll be gorgeous!
Even if we get snowed on again.
Because we really aren't safe from another snowfall until maybe  - August?

Something Silly

Sometimes it's the little things that have you rolling in laughter with tears leaking out your eyes.

Have any of you played with photobooth on your I-pad or I-phone?

It's a silly app that comes on the I-pad.  I  know this because Hunky Hubby got an I-pad for work.  Even though he says he's not going to clutter it with silly apps, it already had photobooth on it.

The other night we had a couple of the students (a.k.a. Ben & Justine) over.  Alexa was up for a visit again as well.  We were sitting around the kitchen talking and making tea, waiting for someone to suggest something fun to do.  I'm not sure how it started but we got onto the photo booth app and started having fun.

Pretty soon we were all gasping for breath because of the hilarious and sometimes frightening pictures we were taking of each other.

Now, I think the I-pad is a pretty neat gadget.  But I do have one complaint.  The camera in the 1 and 2 is dreadfully horrendously awful.  Apple totally chintzed out on that one.  I know the I-pad 3's is better but we've got the 2.  So please excuse the poor photo quality and sit back and enjoy a laugh.

But I'm going to warn you, the following images may be disturbing.

There were worse ones. Truly disturbing actually.  They were too awful to post.  But that did make them even more hilarious.

So the next time you are in need of a laugh, get out your device that has photobooth and have some fun.

After all, a little laughter is all you need to make your day brighter.

Pintsperation - Trial and Error

So I saw this idea on Pinterest . . .

I seem to be starting a lot of conversations that way lately.  You too?

Anyway, the Russian Princess came for a visit this past weekend and I wanted to do a fun project with her.  She likes to do artsy things and I thought it would turn out cool. 

I had seen some pictures of bleached t-shirts where they had used a bleach pen instead of spraying bleach with a spray bottle.  I wanted to try this new method since the boys and I had experimented with the spray bottle method last summer and had a lot of fun with it, although we had some hits and some misses.  Good thing we have a lot of t-shirts.

The bleach pen method looked a little less complex with the ability to have a more detailed design.

I had previously purchased a handy-dandy bleach pen at the local Wal-mart.

They are actually really useful things to keep in your laundry room.

But we had different intentions for this one.

I grabbed a plain t-shirt that I had in my closet.  It was not 100% cotton, instead it was 50% cotton, 50% polyester.

Alexa's shirt wasn't 100% cotton either but the blend was different than mine.

Armed with our t-shirts and some ideas off the internet, we got started.  Coming up with a design idea is the hardest part in my opinion.  I just want it to look really awesome when I'm done!

We layed out our shirts and stuck a thin piece of cardboard or plastic between the top and bottom layer. You want to keep the bleach from bleeding all the way through. Then we got to work free handing some designs on the shirts. Shake the bleach pen really well first. Free handing doesn't always work out perfectly, but it's always unique. Part of the reason I put my design on the side of the shirt was because then you wouldn't be seeing both sides at once and wouldn't notice any inconsistencies as easily.

 Here is the shirt while the bleach was still on it, with the design completed. 

It was really hard to know how long to let this shirt sit.  I couldn't see it whitening well.  I think it was because it was a lighter color and possibly because it wasn't 100% cotton.

When you've let it sit long enough, you have to rinse it in cold water. I had to rub the bleach off by hand, it stuck on the shirt pretty well. 

Then you should wash it on the cold cycle and dry as normal.

Here is my finished project.  The look ended up being more subtle than I thought.  It didn't fade to white like I had hoped.  Maybe I didn't leave it on long enough but I was afraid to leave it on too long and ruin the fabric. 

I like the subtle effect though. 



Unfortunately for Alexa, hers didn't turn out at all. I guess her shirt was a blend of fibers impervious to bleach! I didn't think that was possible. 

So I guess what I learned from this is:

* pick a dark colored shirt

*make sure it is 100% cotton

*have a cool design already picked out.

Bleaching T-shirts is a fun and slightly addicting activity. I liked being able to make detailed designs, but the bleach pen was a little hard to work with since it would come out inconsistently. I will definitely try this again, the boys are already asking me to let them do it. However,

next time I think I'm going to give the freezer paper stencil technique a try.

What can it hurt, right?

I'd love to hear a comment on whether or not you've tried this out before.

Post a picture of your T-shirt too!

Cowboy Up!

Over at Silver Birch Ranch we have a large barn with many horses.  Usually there are 40+ out there at any given time. We've got draft horses all the way down to miniature horses and everything in between. The reason they are there is to enhance the camping experience for our various campers. All campers have the opportunity to go for a trail ride for no extra charge during their stay at SBR

When the boys were all small we spent a lot of time during the summer over at the barn looking at the horses and watching the action.  The boys have loved petting the velvety horse noses, feeding the horses treats and watching them in the paddocks as they roll and frisk about while they aren't 'working'. They've also enjoyed their fair share of pony rides over the years. Pony rides are where the boys get to sit on the horse by themselves but the horse is lead around the barn yard by a wrangler. 

Just before Easter, we were able to enjoy a real treat.  My friend 'Annie Oakley' (that's her screen name) and I took our 4 boys for a real trail ride!  This was the first time Seth and Wyat had ever done this!  (Tate had enjoyed an opportunity last summer when he was a summer camper.)

 

Here are all the boys grooming the horses before the ride. The horses are all in the middle of shedding their winter coats. They look a bit mangy and the amount of hair that was coming off of them was slightly disturbing. We made the mistake of wearing fleece jackets so needless to say, when we got home, they went directly into the wash. Horses look so much prettier when they have their sleek summer coats.

We put the tack on the horses (no the kids couldn't help with that) and mounted up. I was a little concerned about Wyat on his own horse.  He was a bit geared up, all excited about this adventure.  I didn't want him bouncing around on top of his horse and spooking it or falling off. I especially didn't want him thinking that he was a real live cowboy, giving his horse a big kick in the ribs so he could race off into the great unknown! So 'Annie Oakley' and I made the command decision that he wouldn't have any control over the beast he was riding, his horse would be put on a lead rope and 'Annie Oakley' would have a tight grip on that rope during the entire ride. I also explained a few times how he needed to be calm on the ride and hang on the whole time!  

So, with helmets on for safety, we were off! 

The boy in the red jacket is Annie's Oakley's step-son, we'll refer to him as Superman.  He and Tate are the same age and they enjoy each others company during Superman's visits. 

We all enjoyed a nice  uneventful ride, after offering up a prayer for safety.  The boys did a great job on their mounts. It was a lot of fun to be out in the woods with them, watching them as they were riding along.  I kept thinking that these 4 boys could be the summer wranglers one day.  

If they still like the horse barn when they are teenagers. 

I'm thankful for SBR and the different activities my boys are able to learn and participate in because we work there. Not every kid gets to learn how to ride horses as a youngster. I know living in the country makes it difficult to participate in some of the sports activities that city kids seem to be immersed in, but it also gives them opportunities to learn and do things that city kids only dream of. 

The Real Life of A House Wife

That's right, the real life of a house wife includes laundry.

Lots of laundry.

And what's the last thing to get folded?

The socks.

This is what I have to look forward to every week. These are just the whites. I've already folded the colored ones.

The other week, I was having a little pity party for my sock folding self.  I mean really, when you look at this pile does it look like fun?

Besides, every time I get through the pile, I still have to deal with this:

The unmatchables.

Where oh where do their partners dissapear to?

Anyway, I know I'm supposed to make my kids help with the sock folding duties.  Teach them responsibility and all that. Sometimes I do, because I believe in that.  But sometimes I get caught up in the - I can get it done faster, easier and better on my own - mentality.  Or sometimes, I'm doing laundry while the kids are working on their school lessons.

Anyway, mid pity party, I had an epiphany.  I love it when that happens.

Epiphanies are really just God speaking to my heart.

It went a little like this:

Me: "Guh! Look at all these socks!  I really hate folding these socks.  It takes forever to match them all up, even though I buy the ones with the colored bottoms just to make it easier.  And I never buy the same kind twice so I don't have old socks that match new socks, because who wants to wear one old stained sock with one new spiffy sock.  Who am I kidding? They'll all look like old grimy socks in two weeks. How do people keep socks white anyway? I think Martha lies. She doesn't have boys, she has no idea how to whiten these whites with lemon juice and who knows what else.
I know, maybe I'll just separate out all Troys socks from the boys socks and dump all the boys socks in a box.  A box of socks. Then, when they need socks, they can just grab some out of the sock box. Wait, do I really want them running around with mismatched socks? Aarghh, o.k., I'll fold the blasted socks. grumble, grumble, grumble . . . ."
God: (I'm not gonna use quotes because there are no exact words or voices here. Just thoughts that wouldn't really come from my selfish heart.) Remember when you loved folding socks when they were tiny baby socks?
Me: "Yeah, they were so cute! So itty bitty.  And they stayed clean!  Unless they stuck their little foot in the poopy diaper while being changed. Yuck! Kinda glad those days are over. I used to wash the tiny socks in a lingerie bag so they wouldn't get eaten by the dryer. (light bulb moment! I could do this with all these bigger boy socks too!)
God: Is this really a task worth grumbling over? I mean yeah, it's not fun, but don't you remember that I can redeem all of your time into something worthwhile.  What if instead of grumbling, you prayed for the little boy whose socks you're folding?  What if, instead of grumbling or whining, you intentionally changed your attitude and had joy over folding these socks? You have three precious little boys' socks to fold.  Remember what that Song by Steven Curtis Chapman says?  "Do everything you do to the glory of the One who made you, cause He made you." Isn't that what you're trying to teach your little boys? So suck it up Mama, it's time to change that attitude. Your folding socks for My glory today.

Seriously, this is what it sounds like in my head!  And He's right. I have had a great mentor over the years who taught me this same concept.  Her achille's heel was dishes though. Same song, different verse.
She taught me and the other moms at MOPs a little song that goes like this: "washing the dishes Lord, washing the dishes.  Living for your Glory, washing the dishes." You can insert any hated household chore in the place of dishes. Like changing poopy diapers, scrubbing the toilet, waking up in the middle of the night to respond to an irrational 2 year old who's still technically asleep for the 3rd night in a row - well, you get the point.

All that to say, I love being a mom.  I love being a house wife (as unglorious as the world has tried to make that title sound).  But sometimes, in the midst of the mundane, dirty and less than spectacular tasks, I lose my focus. I need a reminder about what it's all about.  What I'm all about.

Bringing glory to God. With everything I do.

1 Corinthians 10:31 "So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." (emphasis mine)

And with laundry like this every week, that gives me a lot of time to glorify God.

Thank you Lord!
May I do even the most mundane tasks, remembering that I am doing them for You!
And when I forget, give me a spanking will ya?!

A Bowl Full of Yummy!

In my quest to eat healthier I learned that eating more fiber is a good thing.

So I went looking for some high fiber recipe's.

Did you know that dried beans have a good amount of fiber in them?

Since I like to feed my inner Mexican, I have always wanted a good Mexican rice and beans recipe.
I stumbled upon this recipe on the website, Home Sick Texan. 

This just goes to show you that sometimes it pays to read through that loooooooong list of comments at the bottom.  Because that's where I found this recipe.  Hidden down there in the comments list.  It was posted by a woman named Kelly and she credits the Houston Chronicle Newspaper.  Where it came from beyond that point, the world may never know. I'm just glad she put it on there, because it is sooooo good. 

I made the dish with bacon, but if you had smoked ham hocks, this would be a good time to use those up.  I think you could make it without the meat too and it would still be good.  I ended up serving these beans over white rice, I just thought putting them over Mexican rice would be too much.

PAPPASITO'S FRIJOLES A LA CHARRA (PINTO BEAN SOUP)
Makes about 1/2 gallon

3/4 lb. dried pinto beans
3 quarts water, divided use
3/8 lb. bacon, cut into 1-inch squares
1/2 cup coarsely chopped white onion
1/4 cup plus 1 1/2 tsp. finely chopped garlic
3 to 4 Tbsp. chopped cilantro, divided use
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin (cominos)
1 1/2 tsp. chili powder
3/4 Tbsp. salt
1 cup chopped Roma tomatoes

Soak beans in 2 quarts water 8 hours.

Drain beans and set aside.

In a 1 gallon heavy pot, cook bacon until well done. Do not under cook or it will look raw in finished product.

Add onions, garlic, 1 to 2 Tbsp. and chopped cilantro to hot bacon and cook until onion is transparent, about 10 minutes.

Add the drained beans, cumin and chili powder. Stir and add remaining 1 quart water. Turn heat to medium-low. Stir in salt. Cook beans slowly until fork tender, about 1 hour. Stir frequently to avoid burning the bottom.

Stir in tomatoes and remaining cilantro and heat through.

Serve in bowls.

Beans may be cooled to below 40 degrees, then reheated when ready to serve.

Source: Houston Chronicle newspaper
___________________________________________________________________________________

This dish was actually a hit with my kids, and my husband. I didn't even make any corn bread to complete the meal.
There was a chorus of mmm's and yum's all around the table as we filled our belly's with a bowl full of yummy.
A very satisfying feeling for a mama who wants some yummy and kinda healthy food to feed herself and her family.

Let me know if you give this recipe a try.  It has my five star (*****) recommendation.

I plan to go back to the Home Sick Texan website and try out that Mexican rice recipe.  I'll let you know how it turns out after I do.

5:09 PM

Easter Blessings

We used the entire weekend to celebrate Easter. If you are going to stretch out a holiday, Easter is a good one to do it with.  I cannot think of a more important holiday to celebrate. This holiday is what separates Jesus Christ from all the other men in the world. This holiday defines Christianity and the God that I love. 

(photo courtesy of bob.blogs.com)

The son of God, crucified.  Dead.  Buried. 

And He came to life.

He overcame death.

For love. 

John 3:16 says it all: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life."

Thank you, thank you, thank you Jesus.

For loving me enough not only to die for me, but to not stay dead.

This holiday is important to our family and we really enjoy celebrating together with the Grandpas and Grandmas, nephews and neices, Uncles and Aunts, cousins, and just about anyone else we can squeeze around the table.  (When I grew up our 'family' wasn't limited to just those people related by blood, but it extended to anyone we called friend who needed a place to land for the holiday.) We were able to celebrate with Troy's parents on Friday afternoon/evening. (Unfortunately I forgot to get out my camera and take pictures so this post is going to look a little one sided.) When we arrived at my in-laws, they had the Easter egg hunt already set up.  The kids love this.  (My in-laws live in the country and have a big yard)

After a quick conversation about the boundaries and what each kid was supposed to find - the boys were off!

I'm not sure how to describe the next 30 minutes.  Here's my best effort:

Searching, laughing, over, under, through, joy, frustration, clues, helping, teasing, finding, treasure, eager, lost, discovery, chocolate, grass, baskets, eggs, sunshine & fun.

The perfect recipe for a great outdoor Easter egg hunt. 

Topped off with a delicious dinner and  good conversation it all made for a wonderful first Easter celebration.

Afterwards, we drove down to Neenah and spent the night at my sisters.  This was our mid-way stop on the way to my parents house.  It gave the cousins some extra time to spend together.

The next day was Easter Sunday.

After the boys spent some time searching the house for the surprises Troy and I had hidden for them, we all got ready for the singspiration service at my Dad's church (he's the Pastor).  

Aren't these pictures precious!  

Do you know what it does to a mama's heart to hear her young sons singing hymns of praise to God?

Be still my beating heart, it could do me in. 

I love it.

Hearing my boys singing to our Savior is one of the most perfect ways I can think of to begin this day.

We followed this warm fuzzy with a delicious breakfast at the church where my sister and family joined us.  My sister and I actually wore the same dress. Different color and I wore a cardigan over mine, but still, the-same-dress. If you knew us you would be equally as surprised as I was! And I didn't get a picture! Aaarghhh! When am I going to learn? I will say, we both looked smashing in our matching dresses and they were different enough that only a couple of people noticed (one being her hubby, gasp! pick my chin up off the floor ;)

When breakfast was through, we had our regular church service.  Can I just tell you how proud I am of my Daddy, preaching his heart out up there in the pulpit? Well I am.  I did not grow up as a p.k. No, my dad waited until he was in his 50's to listen to the call of God on his heart. My mom and dad are both doing a great job in the new role that God has them in.

My dad roped me into singing with him during church, so I roped Megan into joining us. (Actually Troy made her do it) It's been awhile since I've sang in church. While being up front I had a little deja vu.  You see, my grandpa was a pastor and he used to rope my mom and dad into singing at his church on some Sundays.  History repeating itself.

Following church we rushed to my mom and dad's house, the husbands rushed to hide the eggs in the yard, my sister started the dinner prep, and I went outside to take pictures. The kids were all prepped and ready so that as soon as Grammy came home and changed into her comfy clothes, they charged out into the yard to find their prizes.  We broke the hunt up into 2 different categories since my parents do not have a large yard, so the littles went first and then the bigs.

The egg hunt was followed by dinner, where we all ate until we were about to burst. . .  and then we had pie.  There is nothing like family sitting around the table sharing some good food.

It was such a good holiday weekend. It was such a good Easter celebration. It was such a huge thing that Christ did for us, for love, so we could live with him eternally.

I am so blessed.

I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of the cousins, minus 2. (My brother lives in Delaware so we don't get together for holidays much.)

This one is my personal favorite.  My sister gets a little worried about her daughter, being the only girl amongst all these boys.  I don't know why she should be worried.  Ella looks like she fits in just fine!

This one's a little better. 

Oh come on, you know that it's nearly impossible to get a good picture of six kids.  Especially before the egg hunt. 

I'm feeling lucky that they were all looking at the camera.

That's an accomplishment!

Six blessings.

Six kids learning to understand how much Jesus really loves them.

What do you think God is going to do with these kids?

I can't wait to find out!  

These are my Easter Blessings.

I'd love to hear about some of yours.

Book Review

I'm a reader.

If we've been friends for long, you know that about me. It's in my gene's.  My grandmother was a reader.  I have Aunt's and cousins who are avid readers.  My mom and sister are readers.

Some of the guys get into it too. My son is inheriting the 'love for reading' gene, and that's really cool to me.

Grandma would be so proud.

No matter how a book begins, unless the content is truly terrible, I feel compelled to continue reading the book until I get to the end. There is no skipping around for me, no jumping past the dull parts to see how the author manages to wrap it all up. Even if it's not that interesting, I feel like I have to finish it. I can only remember shutting a book and never finishing it, a handful of times.  I really try and give the author a shot at turning a boring beginning into something truly worthwhile. So in the course of my reading history be they fiction or non-fiction, I have read good books, boring books, terribly written books, moderately good books, funny books, books that make me cry, and every once in awhile, I have the privilege of reading a book that is truly amazing.

A book I would actually read again.

This is that kind of book.

Kisses From Katie is written by Katie Davis

Her writing is interesting and clear but it's her heart that spills out on the page before you. She gives you a real inside view of her thoughts and feelings as she embarks on a huge journey of faith to live with, love and minister to the people of Uganda.  

It left me humbled, inspired, and amazed.

The way this young woman has turned her faith in Jesus Christ into selfless action is too good to be true. No one is this selfless, this perfect, this humble. As you read the book, you find out why Katie is able to do what she does. 

Katie Davis's motivation is not about herself, or about what she can accomplish or the good deeds she can do for others.  She isn't trying to do enough good stuff here on earth to secure her place in heaven. Her motivation is simply to obey God. She truly understands her security in Christ, what Christ has accomplished for her, by his death on the cross, and what her response to his love should look like.

Because of her understanding, she lives out love in the name of Jesus.

She sets a great example for the rest of us who call ourselves Christians.

One of the points she makes in the book, that I really appreciated, was this: (I won't quote directly, I'll paraphrase)

We don't all have to move to Uganda and start a ministry in order to be serving God and following his call on your life.  Not everyone is called to go to Africa, but as a Christian, we are all called to love others for Jesus. That's what the gospel is all about.  That's what serving God is all about.

There was a part in the book that really touched my heart and convicted me about my life.

Katie was talking about her daughters.  I won't tell you the specifics and ruin the story for you but the point was this:

Katie has adopted young orphaned girls, who have come from living conditions we cannot even imagine.  Children on the brink of death becasue of malnutrition, children living in a shed, no running water, no clean bedding, no food, they've lost their parents - the list goes on and on.  After being adopted by Katie, their life is radically different. Clean beds, a roof over their heads, school, food, security.  Yet when there is a need for another child - these girls do not selfishly keep this 'stuff' for themselves. They are eager to spread out, give what they have, and make room for one more.

 

 They learned this selfless giving from Katie.  It was the example she has set before them with her life actions.  This is the fruit of her actions. She loves others as a result of Jesus' selfless sacrifice on the cross for her, for me, for you.  Now her children are learning to love others and they know that the reason we are to love others is because Christ first loved us. This is the kind of love I want to share with my children.

Katie Davis is not perfect.  She's not a saint.  She messes up. She will make mistakes. But her heart is for God to use her in every aspect of her life.  Her desire is to glorify God with everything she says and does.  So I believe God has done some amazing things through this young woman because she knows it is not about her, it's about Him.

Read this book.

You will not regret the time spent.

Katie has a ministry called Amazima.

 

She feeds and helps school the children in her area of Uganda.  Follow the link and check it out.

Then, go live your life out loud for Jesus, the one who gave His life for you.

Home School Field Trip - part 2

Beginning where we left off:

After the Leigh Yawkeye Woodson Art Museum, I wanted to take the boys out for a special treat.

Sweet Lola's is a cupcakery in the square in downtown Wausau.

I really love the square. The city developers and the business owners have done a great job of making the square a cool place to dine, shop and find entertainment.

Back to Sweet Lola's. 

The boys have never been a to a cupcakery before. I loved watching their faces as they perused the baked goods through the case.  Seth and Wyat changed their minds at least once.

It was even better watching these boys of mine devour their sweet treats.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm. . . . .

Mmmmmmmmmm . . . .

 Mmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!

It's obvious that he enjoyed his cupcake by the evidence on his face.

 I enjoyed mine too. (Although I tried to keep it off my face)

It was worth every calorie.

I got the chocolate cupcake with peanut butter frosting.

(Please excuse the blurry photo.  Tate is still working on his photography skills.) 

The cupcakse were good to the last bite. 

We all cleaned our plates and then licked the rest of the frosting off of them. (you would too)

Of course we couldn't enjoy all this deliciousness and not bring any home for Troy.

Fortunately, they have really adorable to-go boxes.

Thanks for the treat Sweet Lola's.

We'll be looking forward to our next visit.

Oh, I brought a cupcake called Irish Car Bomb home for Troy.  He was sweet enough to share it.

Let's just say, the frosting was divine.

If they are serving Irish Car Bomb next time I go, that will be the one I get.

I'll be having sweet memories of this home school field trip.  Who wants to join us next time?