How Southern Am I?

A friend of mine had a little girls day recently at her house.  She was born and raised out west and has only lived in the south for about three years.  She said that she decide since she lives in the south she had to learn how to cook fried chicken and biscuits.  Can I just tell you they were both amazing, but her biscuits were divine.  They melted in my mouth and to top it all off she had homemade strawberry jam. While I was enjoying the biscuit goodness it occurred to me that I have lived in the south all my life.  I'm very proud to be southern and I would hate to live in any other part of the country, but I have never ever made biscuits.  I'm sure my grandma would be appalled if she knew.  As painful as that was to admit, if you are a good biscuit maker or know someone who is you may want to look away.  Just click off now and we'll pretend this never happened.  It could be embarrassing for both of us...or just me.  Here is my first attempt at homemade biscuits. Just click here for the recipe.

This was the worst part for me.  Cutting the butter into the flour.  I found myself thinking, "Can't I just melt the butter and mix it together?"  I know shameful, right.

The wet and the dry parts before mixing together.  Simple enough, even for me.

The dough before cutting.  Now if I thought they may actually turn out good I would have taken the time to make them round, but I didn't so I just cut them with a knife. Plus circles just waste dough.  See I'm being frugal.

This is what they looked like when the timer went off.  Obviously I didn't roll them out enough and they were really thick, but after about five more minutes this is what I had.  They looked good enough and I was almost scared to taste.

It was a miracle.  They actually taste good.  Maybe not as good as my friend's or my grandma's, but it was my first time after all.

And of course, my SIL delicious homemade strawberry jam made them awesome.

Garden

Neal and I attempted a real garden this year.  It was our first attempt.  Of course we had a lot of help from the Pepster (have I mentioned how wonderful my daddy is).  He came up and tilled the ground for us and bought me some fertilizer when I told him I didn't know that I was suppose to put fertilizer on my plants.  He wasn't very impressed with that.  Anywho, I have to admit that after planting we were pretty lazy and didn't weed it.  I didn't want to do all that work in the hot sun and it not produce anything.  Turns out it did produce... a lot.  So then we  Neal  had to go out and do some major weeding.  It was not for the faint of heart. So here is some pics of our beautiful garden.  I feel like a proud mama.  I also want proof that we did have a garden because it may never happen again.

We have lots of tomatoes.  I planted a lot because my parents always have a hard time with them so I thought we would have a hard time.  But I think every plant I planted produced.

We have some melons.  Love, love them.

 We have seven strawberry plants.  Unfortunately, the birds love them and what they don't get Ally does.

We have about five plants of summer squash.  The have produced so much I think I'm actually burnt out.  I never thought that would happen.  And then the bugs killed our squash plants.  Seems I didn't know I was suppose to spray for bugs either.  Go figure.

And we got lots of Charles Allen's favorite food.  Watermelon.  He told his dad that he would never eat candy again as long as he had watermelon.  It's a nice thought, but I so don't believe him.

Fashion Show

What summer wouldn't be complete with a fashion show for the divas.  These cuties used my closet (I really hate it when they do that) and entertained us for hours with all their wild out fits.  I can remember doing this when I was a little girl at my cousins Monica's house.  We got to use her mom's old brides maids dresses.  It was so much fun!!!  So here is a preview of the new fall line.

This little cutie didn't get to participate in the actual fashion show, but she is a cutie and a diva so I'll include her.

This looks like trouble. 

I wish I had a pic of Neal's face when he saw Emmy in my shirt.  He actually thought it was a dress I had bought for her.  He was not happy to say the least.  Cracks me up.

This is my personal favorite.  Ally girl is working those heels.

Here they are all sweet and innocent looking.

The outfits are the same, but the shoes are different and that is the most important part.

Happy 4th of July

I have been so busy running the kiddos everywhere this summer and having a blast that I haven't had time to blog about any thing we have done.  We are working hard on our ABC's of summer and have almost completed them all.  It's a  good thing too because my kids go back to school August 1st.  Can you believe that?  That should be illegal.  But anyway, here is a few pics from our July 4th activities.  Have I ever mentioned that July 4th is my second favorite holiday, after Halloween of course.  I know, totally weird.

The kiddos spent the night with their grandma and she made them chocolate and biscuits for breakfast.  Their fave.  I didn't grow up eating it, but I must admit it is really good.

We like to go to the airport in Mt. Olive to watch the fireworks.  They have really good ones and the best part is it is super easy to get in and out of.  There's lots of grass for the kids to play on before the fireworks  begin.

Her shirt says "red, white, and cute", so true.

Getting ready for the fireworks.

Charlie and Parkey

Ms. Linda and Ally

Aunt Kristie, (Jaxxon), and Ally

Ally and Grandma

 Before the fireworks started the kiddos worked on perfecting their cartwheels.

Emmy

Kyleigh and Emmy

Charles-Allen

 Once the fireworks began it was all ooohs and ahhhs....

Charles Allen, Marleigh, Summer

Apparently watching fireworks is harder work than it looks.  The kids were all asleep before we even got out of Mt. Olive.  I can't wait till next year.

This is such a great country we live in.

Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

ABC's of Summer

Are you ready for summer, I am.  I've always been a big fan of summer.  I totally stole this great idea from some one else's blog, but I love it and can't wait to complete our ABC's of summer.  Isn't summer the best!!

A-Art Camp Day @ Time Out for Art
B-Black Creek Hill Farm Horse Trail Riding
C-Charles Allen's Choice
D-Dollar Tree Trip
E-Emmy's Choice
F-Fourth of July Fireworks
G-Girls Night Out, Guys Night Out
H-Have Friends Over
I-Inspect all of North Carolina's Aquariums
J-July Birthday Celebrations 4 E & A
K-Kook Out
L-Lunch With Dad
M-Myrtle Beach Trip With My Family
N-Neal's Choice
O-Outing at Monkey Joe's
P-Pepa's For The Day
Q-Quality Time With Each Other
R-Really Good Snow Cones @ Pelicans
S-Surf City Beach Trips
T-Triton Horse Riding Camp
U-Unbelievable Arts and Crafts
V-View Lots Movies 
W-Water Park, White Lake
X-eXtrem makeover(hair, nails, tatoos)
Z-Zoo Day

Our goal is to do everyone of these at least once and I'm sure we'll get to some of them several times.  I also want to let the kiddos blog about it themselves.  That way I can get their point of view. Happy Summer! 

May Days

May was a busy, busy month at the Barnett household we had Scotty Fever some kinda bad.

We went to his American Idol homecoming concert in Garner.  It was so dang hot, I tell ya.

Pratically everyone we knew was there.  This is Emmy's favorite teacher, Ms. Boone.  She just happens to be a big fan of Scotty too.  She was  his 2nd grade teacher and Scotty went to elementary school at Timber Drive which is also where Emmy and Charles Allen go to school.

Here she is with her sweet cousins Kyleigh and Marleigh.  They've had a blast going to the viewing parties together.

As always it wouldn't be a party without Elise and Ian, well at least not for Emmy and Charlesy.

Bugga had a blast. Ms. Boone was telling me that she thought I had the sweetest kids and she was so excited to see that there were two more coming to Timber.  I'm not sure she's ready for this one.

They played with each other and with friends.

 The boy played ball...a lot.

We spent a lot of time outside, by the fire....

roasting marshmellows and hotdogs.

And we added to our family when our cat had kittens. Life is good:)