giveaway time!!

sponsored by

pretty, right?


to enter:

1. you must be a follower of my blog
2. go to keely's etsy store, let me know what jewelry you would like to see more of and let me know in the comments 
(be sure to leave your email address)

(optional)
 it would be great if you would go over to keel's blog to say hi and thank her for sponsoring this fun giveaway

i'll be posting the winner sometime on saturday, september 5th
good luck my friends!


thank you sis for being so gracious and sponsoring my giveaway - you're the best and i love you

and a big thank you to all my readers who keep coming back day after day to read my blog and to all of you who leave me such great comments - you guys are rad!

xo,
kass

late to the party

i know i'm late to the party but i finally learned to do a fishtail braid! thanks to amanda shires who did a how to on her blog yesterday and to my beautiful friends brandi and kelly who did a post on amanda a couple of weeks ago because otherwise i would never have known! anyway, you have no idea how excited this makes me, i've always wanted to know how! be sure to check out amanda's blog for the super easy tutorial.

on another note, i wanted to say hi to all my new followers and to give a big thank you to my sister for spotlighting me on her follow me chickadee fridays post! i also wanted to let you all know that i'm having a super fun giveaway on my blog this coming monday as a thank you to all of my readers... old and new - so be sure to check back monday and enter!

xo,

kass

favorite pear dishes?

 pears from our tree

mmmm pears

we just realized that we have a pear tree in our yard - we were pretty excited since pears are dan's favorite fruit! i can think of tons of ways to eat pears... paired with cheese for a light snack, on pizza with gorgonzola, made into a panini with some bri, mixed into pasta with parmesan and maybe asparagus...

but when it comes to baking, i'm just not sure what to do with them.

i was trying to come up with a way to bake them and have something to do with the girls today - i came up with pear bread and pear crumble, pear pie and pear tarts... but some of them looked pretty complicated or had ingredients that i didn't have on hand so we ended up making...well, nothing. pretty sad. so that this doesn't happen again, i thought i would ask you guys what your favorite pear dishes are, whether they be a snack, dinner or dessert i would love to know! i appreciated the few of you that shared some apple recipes with me when i did this post, so i'm hoping for some help here as well.

thanks in advance!

xo,

kass

fun to eat off of

dan bought me these great plates as an anniversary present and i fell in love with them right away - the colors are amazing and they are so fun to eat off of!

they are from anthro... of course ;) 

a big thank you to all of you for all the cat advice - you were all so helpful and i love how a few of you practically wrote novels! it was great to read all of your advice and to read about your own cats - thank you thank you!

xo,

kass

smitten

parko kitty

for those of you who know me well, you know i am FAR from being a cat person... but this little guy has completely changed my mind. my mother in law got little parko for tayli's third birthday and he took to me right away (sorry tayli!) and pretty much hasn't left me alone since. he sleeps under our covers at night right by my feet or he comes and sleeps on my head (which i hate... i'm a super light sleeper) and every night he licks my head and paws at my hair - kinda like he is cleaning me (is that normal??) it bugs the crud out of me and makes my head itch. i hate it. but i still love him. he cuddles me on the couch every time i sit down, comes out of hiding only when i call for him, follows me to the bathroom, etc... 

anyway, i'm pretty smitten with him so i thought he deserved his own post... plus i needed to download the many pictures i have taken of him - he's the perfect model! 

are any of you cat people?

own a cat?

what is normal cat behavior?

and one last question for you

what is the best cat litter and litter box out there?

ahh... okay, this is the last one 

have any of you made your own litter box?

happy weekend!

xo,

kass

dude

we had a busy weekend full of beach time, friends and fun and we were still going today... 

it was 80 or so degrees today at the beach and it was gorgeous! dan, the kiddos and i all headed down the street to salt creek beach - the boys surfed while the girls and i played in the sand, laid out and swam.

dan came in for a few and got some great photos of ty surfing on his new board 

dude, this kid is getting so good and i am so proud of him!

in other news, dan got laid off on friday - his position at work was terminated...

we're actually pretty excited about this new opportunity since he hated his job and loathed his boss. we know the Lord has a plan and we're not too worried but your prayers would be appreciated and if any of you know of any good paying jobs out there in orange county or san diego county then please let me know! 

i hope you all are having a beautiful evening

xo,

kass

i can't believe you are thirteen

a few photos from the first five years of ty's life...

with all his friends before going to the beach... pumped about his new board!

happy birthday to my sweet boy

i can't believe you are thirteen

you are the coolest kid i've ever met and i feel so extremely blessed to be your mom

being a pregnant teen was not my plan, but the Lord sure as heck knew what He was doing and i am so thankful for you. you are my buddy, my friend, my handsome son... you make me laugh, you make me smile, your love warms my heart. i am so proud of you - the boy that you've been and the boy that you are. you are kind, generous and loving to all. you're smart as a whip and a great little surfer. you are amazing with your sisters, a good friend and respectful to your elders... 

i love you deeper than the deepest ocean 

happy thirteenth birthday, tyler

i love you mucho mucho grande

xo,

mom

this photo has nothing to do with anything but i thought it was pretty - roses dan gave me on our anni

in just a few hours five teenage boys will be coming over for a sleepover...

ty is turning 13 on sunday so a few of his buddies are coming over to stay the night - it's going to be a night of pizza, rowdy boys, surf videos, too much candy and staying up late! 

ahhhhhhhh 

tomorrow we're heading to the beach for a day of surfing, sunday is church and then off to lowers for more surfing, homemade pizzas for dinner and monkey bread for dessert... this weekend is all about tyler and i hope he enjoys every second of it.

i'll be back sunday with a little post dedicated to my sweet boy...

what are your plans this weekend?

xo,

kass

first time

i went to ikea for the first time the other day - dang, that store is huge! i'm not really a fan of shopping, i get tired quickly and as you moms out there know, it can be challenging trying to shop with kiddos in tow...

but at ikea, there was so much to look at that dan, the kids and i kinda enjoyed it! well... maybe not tyler so much... 

 i went there in hopes of finding a coffee table that i had seen in the catalog for only $19.99 - i have been wanting a new coffee table for ages. the one we have had, although nice, was just too large for our small space. not only did i find the coffee table but i found a rug and curtains too - we walked out of ikea spending barely any money at all - amazing!

 our old coffee table that is now residing in the play room

new ikea coffee table and rug

dan picked out the rug... it's not what i had envisioned but it'll do for now until i find what i really want... it was so super cheap i can't even believe it. and the coffee table is much smaller than our old one... it's a little "new" looking for me but i'm sure it'll get banged up how i like it in no time - that's kinda what happens with things in our house... having three kids, a dog and a cat will do that pretty quickly!

are any of you fans of ikea?

any of you not been there yet?

xo,

kass

keep it clean, people

let's play a little game

EDITED:

i decided to take off the picture of tayli and parko kitty since my blog is public and there are weird people out there... just being safe.

thanks to those who played along and came up with some cute captions!

whenever i look at this photo i think of a PETA ad

so...

i thought it would be fun if you guys could come up with a fun caption - PETA themed, of course.

please keep it clean, people, this is a PG blog ;)

xo,

kass

apple squares

we've got two apple trees and one of them is ready for the picking - we have an abundance of apples! 

the other day i decided to google some apple recipes - i would hate for all these delicious apples to go to waste

i came across a yummy looking recipe here

it was such a hit in my home that i thought i should share it with you guys

apple squares

1 c sifted all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4tsp. salt

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 c butter, melted

1/2 c packed brown sugar

1/2 c white sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 c chopped apple

1/2 c finely chopped walnuts

2 tbsp white sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1. preheat oven to 350 F

grease a 9x9in pan 

sift together flour, baking powder, salt and 1/4 tsp cinnamon; set aside

2. in a large bowl, mix together melted butter, brown sugar and 1/2 c of white sugar with a wooden spoon until smooth. stir in the egg and vanilla. 

blend in the flour mixture until just combined, then stir in walnuts and apples

(i omitted the walnuts since my family doesn't care for them)

spread the mixture evenly into the prepared pan. in a cup or small bowl, stir togetheer the remaining cinnamon and sugar; sprinkle over top of bars.

3. bake for 25-30 min on center rack in preheated oven; finished bars should spring back when lightly touched. cool in pan, cut into squares

and enjoy!

i doubled the recipe and used a 9x13 inch pan... 

i feel like you could get away with less sugar and less sugar and cinnamon on top - in fact, i had to brush some off it was so much. these are good warm and gooey but even better the next day!

if any of you have any apple recipes that you wouldn't mind sharing, i would love to hear them - be it baked goods, a side dish or a main course.... send 'em my way!

if you end up making these please let me know what you think

xo,

kass

i love that you...

 our wedding table 8.9.03

daniel, i thank the Lord everyday for you... you are a wonderful husband, a terrific father, amazing lover, my best friend. 

i love that you:

make me laugh... even when i don't want to

work hard to provide for us 

love Jesus and have a passion for Him

are a family man

adore our children

are dang sexy

have a fun surf style

can grow the most awesome facial hair 

make me feel beautiful
are you

i love you as you are... everything about you...

happy 7th anniversary mr. bacquet

xo,
kass

it just makes me happy

i love this view - the colors, the old window, dan's goofy painting that i used to make fun of, my favorite red stool... it just makes me happy.

is there a spot in your home that makes you happy?

tomorrow is dan and my 7th anniversary - this is the first year in a long time that we haven't gotten away by ourselves... i'm hoping he surprises me with a nice dinner, maybe my favorite anthro candle, a massage... something!

i sure do love that man and i'm sure he has some sort of plan up his sleeve...

xo,

kass

cheap thrills

i've had no car for the past month due to the engine blowing up in dan's volvo and dan taking my car to get to and from work... so the kids and i have to be creative on a daily basis. while tayli was napping, the kiddos and i had some backyard fun... see for yourself...

what do you do for cheap thrills?

today, tyler has his first WSA (world surfing association) surf contest - i'm praying he does well and wins a few heats... i'll keep you all posted. i'm so proud of my little (soon to be teenage) man!

enjoy your saturday!

xo,

kass