So long, T-ball

 Right now I’m sitting in the shade at the Discover Park in Mcminnville. It’s a fun park for the kids to play at with two play structures, a sand hill, and a unique water feature. It has been unusually warm for June here in Oregon, and we’ve been close to 100 degrees for nearly a week now, and it looks like the heat wave will continue for the rest of the week.

Last Saturday (like I mentioned in my previous post) was Noah’s last T-ball game. It was his first year playing any sport (since he just turned 5) and he had so much fun. He went all out and put on his ‘face paint’ (I’m pretty sure that was Anika’s idea!) and his new favorite pair of shades.

Luckily they changed the time of his game from 4pm to 10am, because those boys would have been overheated at a game that late in the day. We even lucked out and the morning was overcast, keeping it cooler for everyone.

They handed out trophies and everyone said their farewells, then Wayne and I took the kids to our favorite ice cream shop in McMinnville, Serendipity’s.

Emma has her first softball tournament game tomorrow evening, and if they win there will be another game, if not I think her season will be over too.

I think it’s great that the baseball season overlaps with summer a bit…it’s kept the kids happy and busy and entertained…until August when soccer practices start.  ;)

~Melissa

Blueberry Lemon Drop

Hello everyone! I hope you are having a great weekend staying cool and spending time with your loved ones. Today was Noah’s last T-ball game. It was the end of his first season of sports and he was so proud holding up his trophy for me to photograph. You know there will be a few pictures of that coming up soon! 

Today I wanted to share a new fun flavor for your next cocktail: A blueberry lemon drop. If you know me you know that I absolutely adore lemon drops (perhaps a bit too much) so I wanted to try this cocktail mixer from Bungalow 23.They kindly sent me three different flavors to try, and this was my first choice to open – not only because of the name, but also because the fruit used is local to me! It’s all grown in the Willamette Valley.

The blueberry lemon drop is super easy to make, and a fun twist to the original with hints of lemongrass and lavender in this premium mixer. 

Blueberry Lemon Drop 

What you need:

Bungalow 23 Blueberry Lemon Drop Premium Mixer
Ice
Premium Vodka

Combine 4 ounces of mixer with 1.5 ounces of premium vodka. Serve on the rocks or shake in shaker and strain into a glass.

What are some of your all-time favorite summer cocktails?

~Melissa
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#AD Simple 4th of July Menu Idea

 This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #SummerYum #CollectiveBias

I seriously can’t believe that the 4^th of July is just around the corner. I always love the 4^th of July – it’s a great time that family and friends can gather together and eat amazing food and celebrate our nation. To me, it’s like the unofficial start of the fair and carnival season, and I love all of the tasty treats you can devour at all of the fun events. 

Yesterday though, I was exhausted. As I mentioned yesterday that kids have been quite a handful the past couple of days, and we all had to do grocery shopping too – so I loaded the kids up and drove over to the Walmart Supercenter in Salem so I only had to make one stop and could get everything I needed.

I ended up grabbing a family pack of their Deli Fried Chicken for dinner last night, as well as a cute little banner and red, white and blue washi tape… and started feeling excited for the upcoming holiday. We don’t have fried chicken too often, so of course I decided to make the rest of the traditional trimmings – potato salad, corn on the cob, a green salad, and lots of fresh juicy fruit.

I didn’t know what I was going to do with the tape when I bought it, I just knew that I liked it (don’t tell me you haven’t done that before!) however, while I was mixing my potato salad a festive idea popped into my head and I decided to make our silverware a little more festive by adding the tape to the ends. It’s great because it comes off easily and really transformed them. I also added a piece of tape onto mini mason jars and wrote our names on them, and the kids loved their own personal cups. 

 The salad I made was a Red, White and Blue Salad – it’s really easy to make and tastes amazing!

Red White and Blue Salad

4 cups of baby greens

1 cup of fresh raspberries

½ cup feta cheese

½ cup slivered almonds

½ cup fresh blueberries

¼ cup thinly sliced red onion

Raspberry Vinaigrette

Mix all of the ingredients into a salad bowl and serve immediately. Drizzle your favorite dressing on and enjoy!

Makes approximately 4 servings. 

 We’ve had an overabundance of fresh little strawberries since we’ve went and picked about 32 pounds of them over the past week, so I wanted to make a fun little appetizer that was a little bit different. We also happen to have a yummy basil plant in our garden that is doing really well, so I harvested some of that, and used some fresh mozzarella and balsamic dressing to make tasty little bites that at least Wayne and I liked.

Strawberry, Basil, and mozzarella bites

 Even though life can be hectic and I’m completely exhausted at times, I’m glad that I like creating this stuff – because someday these moments will turn into my children’s fond memories.

And it all started with some yummy fried chicken. ;)

 What food do you normally serve for Independence Day? What occasions are “fried chicken” occasions? Walmart makes it really easy to create the dinner you want with their deli fried chicken! :) 

~Melissa

Last Weekend

Hello! How is it already Tuesday night? This past weekend flew by and I don’t know about you, but I’m definitely having a hard time getting into a new routine since school let out. The kids have been very …exhausting the past couple of days! I’m crossing my fingers hoping that they are just all going through a growth spurt and are tired and that everything will even out soon!

Last Thursday we all gathered up and took the kids to the Drive In – where they had a first run double feature, Inside Out and Tomorrowland. We are so incredibly lucky to live very close to a Drive In – but sadly we hadn’t been in years! It’s normally only opened on weekends, and the lines and waiting can be ridiculously long, and people will seriously sit there and form lines for hours before the shows start, and they will often times sell out. I saw on their Facebook page that they were going to have a special Thursday showing and thought that we had the best chance of fewer crowds – and we were right. It was great and we drove right in and had a good spot. The kids loved it!

Friday – the kids recovered from their late night. ;)

Saturday we spent the day at the ball field – with Noah’s t-ball game first and Emma’s softball game following directly after. Then we all headed to a birthday party. 

Sunday: Father’s Day! We stayed home all day and enjoyed some tasty food. Anika made waffles for breakfast – and I made Irish coffee. For lunch we had homemade ham and bean soup that I had cooked, and Anika made corn bread. We made Wayne a snack of one of his favorite appetizers – bruschetta with fresh mozzarella, Roma tomatoes, red onions, and chopped basil with a balsamic drizzle…and of course a little glass of red wine to go with it. J

We had dinner out on the patio – I grilled corn on the cob, asparagus, and bacon wrapped pork tenderloins and Anika made brownies that we topped with a pumpkin cream.

Sunday was good.

Hopefully these kids get a good night’s rest and the rest of the week goes a little smoother than Monday and Tuesday went!

How was your weekend?

~Melissa