Queenies Little Kingdom

My kids love this stuff! Monkey bread has long been our holiday morning meal of choice. Sweetboy woke up this morning (earlier than his normal lunchish hour wake-up time) and announced, “Mom, we have to have monkey bread for breakfast!”. I yell from under my luxurious 450 threadcount sheets (yes, I said 450 t.c.), I am not above living like a queen (hint, the name of this here bloggy thingy!), “I don’t think I have canned biscuits!”. You do know that’s how you make this crazy stuff, right? Anywho, he says back in his raspy, sweet, 18 year old, I’m going to be living somewhere else next year since I am going to college voice……”No problem, I’ll run to the store!”. Shoot! I tell him, “You know these things take like an hour to make?”. Again, “No problem!” he says.
So, up I drag my worn out old-lady body to the kitchen where I start pulling out all the “stuff” it takes to make this famous family recipe. By this time, I am gathering an audience….Dad has come up the stairs (he’s leaving for work) and the baby (who’s 13) rolls out of her bed. Everyone gets excited for monkey bread!
Back in no time from the local JayC store, sweetboy begins helping to prepare the masterpiece. We pop open those cheapo biscuits, chop them into 4’s, and throw them in the sugar/cinnamon mixture. You would actually enjoy doing this with your kids too. I highly recommend it. Once the bundt pan was full, we poured the melted margarine all over the dough and put it in the oven at 350 for 40 minutes. Oh the waiting! Actually, everyone went their own separate way to loaf off the anticipation. Ding, timer goes off, icing is made…..people are crowding around the end result! Mmmmm delicious!
We ate til our stomachs said….STOP! And, thankfully….they did say stop! Too much sugar and not enough protein, bad, very bad! The lesson here folks is to eat a well balanced diet or feel sugary sick all day.

Ok, I’m so new to this bloggy world. But I know a good contest when I see one. You must go check out this mega giveaway. In the future I am going to be participating, I promise! In the meantime, go see for yourself what rockin prizes are being offered. Oh, and all the blogs to look at while you are there. Amazing!

This kid has always been the bomb!  From the day we found out he was heading into our family, we knew he was special.  Maybe that’s a first-born given, I don’t know.  But this boy…….we love!  Everything about him is precious to us.  Do all parents feel this?  I’m thinking YES!
This last school year (his JR. year), he was selected to attend Hoosier Boys State in Terra Haute, IN.  This is quite a privilege!  We are not showy-offy type people….but I am going to say…..WE ARE SO PROUD OF HIM!
Each school in the state selects among their top male students for this opportunity.  He and another super-cool kid took the honors this year.  So the preparing began.  We packed and planned and prayed, until it was time to go.  Off we set for Terra Haute’s Indiana State University campus.  A good 2 1/2 hour drive on bumpity bumpity highway(reason enough for me not to go there again) but I will not say that too loudly as it is also home to one of the greatest engineering colleges, Rose-Hulman.

Registering and hauling up the world’s slowest (and hottest) elevator on campus to move him in for the looooong week was a tiny taste of what’s to come in the next year.  Ouch!  They grow up so fast!  We meet his roomie, Jordan (cute kid from up north Indiana) and began our letting him go ceremony.  He has always been independent……a wonderful trait for us first-borns!  But it still stings the mom & dad folk.  We remember our girls are gone for the week to the lake with friends and realize….we will have a near honeymoon week ahead minus all the newly married weirdness.  We peel out!
Did I mention the week there could sorta be described as a weeklong intensive course in Civics?  Well, it is.  They wake up at 5am each morning and begin the day of learning, learning and learning.  Sounds fun, huh?  Each one of them have opportunities to run for offices.  Our sweetboy was elected to State Representative, County Clerk, State Delegate, Convention Recorder….and something else he can’t remember.  How he was selected to all that he ran for we don’t know.  Usually you win or don’t win just one.  See, I told you he was the bomb!  Too cool!
The week of civics & honeymooning speeds by and we are off to Terra Haute to pick up our boy.  The week ends with an incredible ceremony of the weeks events.  We were so proud!  We cannot pick him out of the crowd of 750 boys once we get inside…..the ceremony begins….we look up on stage and up he stands to give the invocation prayer!  Talk about blown away with excitement?  I was so proud that my boy was standing there thanking God for his friends, leaders, family and for God himself in front of the state of Indiana.  Gavin, we know God has amazing plans for you!  Thank you for being the sweetest son parents could have.  We love you!
Sleep seemed to be one of the things they didn’t do much of.  So our ride home was quiet as he crashed out in the backseat of dad’s faux Jag.  After all is said and done, Hoosier Boys was a great experience for him and for us.  We know that our boy will make good choices when we are not around.  He does belong to an amazing God, doesn’t he?
Check him out at drop off……and on the ride home.  Bless his heart!

Before with roomie.

Praying during the ceremony.

Exhausted after a long week.

You gotta let your kids grow up! I know that. I mean, come on. This week, I had to let my middle baby fly off to Florida to visit grandparents. It wasn’t so bad! Ok, it was really sad. She is a big girl and really wanted to go….so who am I to stop her? Well, once we were at the airport and she was about to board her flight….her sister started to cry. They are best friends……I felt sad for her. She wasn’t trying to ruin her sister’s trip just sad to let her go. Boy, did I understand her feelings. So there I was having to hold it together for all of us.

It’s hard to let them go. Even for best sisters! Separation can be tough. So we did some therapy after dropping off our girl, we went in to Indy and shopped! Woohoo! That can cure a lot of low emotions. After wallowing our lonely sorrows in retail therapy we scantered back home to little North Vernon and fell asleep for long naps (due to the fact we had only had a couple hours max sleep from the night before). We awoke later realizing that “sister” was gone and we would miss her. But in two weeks we’d have her back (buttin in our bidness) and life would be back to normal again. We’ll sure miss arguing with her over clothes and food and sleep and……Algebra! JK…..we will miss all that and more. It’s hard to let them go. But God never leaves us…..He will protect her and bring her back in no time. We love you, Ally!
Look at us, letting her go at the airport. Notice the cry-face on Ms. Gates. So sweet.

This guy is amazing! We love him! We knew him when he was a young buck. Now he’s all grown up and the daddy of 6, hubby to beautiful Kristen and Senior Pastor of FBC West Palm Beach. Wow! I told you he was amazing! This is our sweet friend, Jimmy Scroggins. He is one cool guy.

This year, the Southern Baptist Convention was held one hour away from us in Indianapolis. We love going to the convention because one of the highlights of it all is seeing many old friends. The SBC is a hub of wonderful friends and ministries from all over the world. I love being Southern Baptist and I love being married to a minister. God has blessed us in serving Him.

Running into Jimmy Scroggins is just one of those neat things that happens. We knew him from our “home” church in South Florida (FBC Arcadia), back in the day. Jimmy’s dad, Jim Scroggins was our local town’s head football coach and he served our church (where my husband’s father was Minister of Education) as a deacon. We loved this family and as life has it, we all moved along in life. Jimmy ended up at Southern Seminary and so did we (years later). Being part of the SBC has many perks…like running into special friends and seeing how God is doing great things with their lives.

Ok….I’ve been wanting this camera for so long.  Surprise!  I got it.  Hubby ordered the cutest little pink Pentax 8.0 megapixel just for me.  I don’t have to share it with ANYBODY!  It’s all mine!  That’s a big deal in a house full of teenagers.  It seems all their wants and needs come first.  Oh the life of a mom!

Got the camera, but it needs a case.  Hubby suggests just find something at Walmart in the camera section. Gasp!  Huh?  No way!  I want something different and adorable, that’s just how I roll!  So my search begins.  I look online, stalk all the stores and still no camera case like I imagine.  I know I want it to be pretty and I want it to fit in my purse.  It must be easy to grab the camera out of and BAM! snap a picture lickety split!

I decide, I’ll just make what I want.  I find fabric that is fabulous and some other little protege items to try this hairbrained idea out with.  And, voila!  I have the cutest little camera bag!  Now….since making that first one for myself, I have since made 5 more as giveaways.  They are cute, people!  Everytime someone sees me whip mine out, they love it and want one too.  Oh, what a joy to help mankind out in such a satisfying way.  I feel blessed!  Oh, and I do love my camera bag.  Look for yourself……aren’t these adorable?