July 4th Goodies, a LO & Our Stay-Cation

We're hanging out around here for July 4th. I recently saw this referred to as a "stay-cation", where you stay at home and look for fun local things to do. With the price of gas the way it is, that sounds fine to me!

Jen is making my weekend much more enjoyable with some brand new kits. Even better, she has them marked down to a DOLLAR through Saturday!



And since they're so cheap, why not pick up the Canada Day pack? The solids alone are worth the price!



Here is a layout I did, using both kits and a few Peppermint Creative items, of Aiden enjoying some patriotic sugar cookies that we made:



Yesterday I cut Aiden's name in white vinyl and used a 2 inch circle punch to cut a circle out of some blue sample vinyl Oracal sent me. I put his name in white over the blue circle on a small silver galvanized bucket I found at Wal-Mart to make him a little July 4th treat pail. It's super cute and I can't wait to fill it with some goodies. I need to send Brian to the fireworks stand to pick up some sparklers....

I think the thing Brian and I are most looking forward to this weekend is that his cousin Melissa and her family are moving to Houston! They bought a house out in Katy but I am soooooo excited that Aiden will have cousins living in town! (Although we are very lucky to have John & Cherise just minutes up the road. Technically our children are cousin-in-laws, with Cherise's brother being married to Brian's sister. It gets confusing.) I'm excited to see Zach & Melissa more often and have a "reason" to drive out to all the fun shops in Katy.

Sometime this week I think it would be fun to head up to Moorehead Blueberry Farm in Porter. If you've never been, you can check out their website here. Their blueberries are delicious but I read they haven't had enough rain to yield the giant clusters of ripe berries I remember from years previous. I really should get out there before the season is over. I've been craving blueberry muffins! LOL!

Tay's Totally Cheating Blueberry Muffins:

1 box white cake mix
Blueberries (1 pint or more)

Mix up cake mix according to box directions. When the batter is smooth, stir in washed blueberries by hand. Pour into muffin cups. Bake as directed for cupcakes & smear the warm tops with butter before serving. Sooooo good! These taste almost like the Betty Crocker blueberry muffin box mix but for a third of the price!