Friday Favorites!

Y'all ready for a whoooole lot of random?!

 

I am linking up and here are some of my FAVORITES this week:

1. HANK

This dog is so dang sweet.  He has always been so tolerant of these wild boys. Always.  He is the most loving animal and at 90+ pounds, he tries hard to be gentle.  I have a million pictures of the boys on Hank.  But this week, I looked over at Cal and saw this:

It got me thinking about how many pictures I have taken of this boy and this dog.  But then I got sidetracked and didn't think about it again, until the next day when I walked into my room and saw Cal in his favorite position:

And then the next day....

Hank is like a big gigantic furry pillow.  And, let me tell you- Hank loves this just as much as Cal.  

So this last picture got me thinking about when Cal was a newborn and we introduced Cal and Hank. Of course Hank was overly intrigued by the baby and when Cal would cry, Hank would cry right along side of him- haha.  I remember taking these pictures like it was yesterday.  Same boy, same dog, same bed.  

You can see Eddie's hands in the above picture, ready to pounce and grab Cal if Hank decided at the last minute to hop up and run.  But he never did.  The most he would do is lift his head and look back at Cal while he cooed.  

Pretty amazing these two have been such buddies all these years.  

I have a million pictures of both boys on top of Hank loving on him.  I took several just today.  But there is something so sweet about the fact that they are on our bed together... makes this dog definitely one of my FAVORITES today, and every other day!

2. BOOK CLUB

I am sooooo excited about this!!! I always read when I am on vacation, but when I am home, I just don't find the time to read.  I know I have the time-- I just need to MAKE myself read.  But I just didn't.  When I had down time, I would sit and look at instagram, read blogs or (gasp) play candy crush.  ewwww. 

Well, these two lovely ladies, Andrea and Jackie....

and I geeked out in Aruba talking about books we have loved. We came home and continued texting about books we were reading.  I admitting I wasn't reading anything currently, and Andrea said she was about to start a new book, and Jackie said she was looking for a book.  I suggested a little book club, and we are doing it!!! I am SUPER excited (and geeky!) about this!

The first book we are reading is Saving Grace by Jane Green.  Jackie blew through it in one weekend and Andrea is making great progress too, so it is making me want to read-- and read quickly!!-- so that we can talk about the book! I went to the car wash today and instead of staring mindlessly at my phone, I read.  And it was lovely! I am about halfway done and I can not wait to discuss what is happening in this book. 

If you have any good book suggestions, please send them my way! We will be doing this again when we all finish and we will need new books.

3. Homemade Spaghetti Sauce-- yummmmm

I posted this picture in my Weekend Update post:

And promised to share the recipe.  I am not a cook.  At all.  I make some yummy desserts, but I am no cook.  This sauce is bomb.  It is my mother in law's recipe and it is delicious!

In a crock pot or on the stove top:
1 small can tomato paste
3 one pound cans tomato sauce
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 small onion chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp salt
****note: I do not use measuring spoons when making this, and I can assure you I use WAY more than a teaspoon of all of those spices... I use more like a heading tablespoon.  Either way.  It's delicious***
Brown ground beef- we like ours extra meaty so we use 2 pounds of lean meat
Throw it all in the crockpot and let it simmer all day.  The longer it simmers the better it gets. 

 It freezes really well too!

3. Poppy!

Eddie's dad is keeping this boys this weekend-- all of them, Cal and Andy and Bruce and Hank...!-- so that we can go and relax in Miami.  He is soooo kind, and maybe a little bit crazy to do it and we are extremely grateful! He's my favorite this week!

5. Swimmers!
Ever since Aruba, Andy has had his mind made up that he is doing swim team this summer.  He has been holding this firmly in his head and there is no arguing with him.  I fully support it! I think it is awesome! I certainly wasn't going to push him into it until he was ready. 
I told him he had to swim a full lap before he could do swim team, and he has been talking about this lap a lot!
Last week at swim, he wanted to do it, but there wasn't enough time at the end of their practice for the to do it. 
This week, Andy and Lee walked in and told their coach they wanted to swim a lap.  So, at the end of practice, their coach got in the water with these boys and one at at a time, they took turns swimming a full lap! I was SO proud! Andy hopped out at the end and said "I'm going to do it again!" and then ran down to the end of the pool, ready to go again.  There wasn't time for him to go again, but he was ready to go!

After they did it, they were ALL smiles!

SO proud of these little swimmers and they are definitely my FAVORITES this week!

Have a GREAT weekend!!!