Casual Friday 4.8.16

The Casual Friday series has been running for nearly seven years, and it isn't going to stop - I love having a way to share a simple and fun picture from our family life.  However, I also tend to have other casual things that I want to share but don't have the time or content to turn them into stand-alone posts, so I've decided to update Casual Fridays to include them for, well, probably my own enjoyment, mostly.  These are things that, if we were meeting up for a coffee chat, I would probably mention.  So grab your mug and feel free to join in the casual conversation in the comment section.

Casual Picture of the Week:
Bowl clean-up is always simple when we are making dairy-soy-egg free cake.

What we celebrated this week:  Eli's half birthday, Mark's 38th birthday, three fellows with straight A's on their report cards, Mark conquering taxes!

What I am reading: Big Data Baseball.  A friend let us borrow this one a while back.  Quite a while back.  I had a pile of books in process at the time, but this week I was finally able to give myself permission to start a new just-for-fun book.  Timely, too, as baseball season just started and the Pirates have had a great week!

A link I loved this week:  I've mentioned loving Kinsey's writing before, but right now she and her husband have initiated a prayer movement for those in America's foster care system.  The posts have been such important reads.  Click here to get the overview and watch a powerful video; then, join in the movement.

What is making a difference in this mama's life:  Dry shampoo.  I have a stylish friend who has always impressed me with her ability to get her kids to school and herself to her government job looking put-together, all by 8 am.  When I asked her for her secrets, one of them was dry shampoo.  Difference maker.  My hair has a lot of personality, but so does the two-year-old who is my, um, assistant, and there really isn't room each morning to accommodate both.  But now, I wash and style my hair on the easier mornings of the week and use dry shampoo to fake it all the other days.

What I am looking forward to this weekend:  Watching the first season's finale of The Great British Baking Show with Mark and Eli.  Ever since Eli turned double-digits, we've had one night a week that we put everyone else to bed and then hang out just the three of us double-digit-ers.  Sometimes we introduce him to a classic movie, like The Sandlot.  Other nights, we play a game that requires concentration (which is hard to maintain when everyone else is awake!).  Lately, though, we've been watching an episode a week of The Great British Baking Show.  It is a reality food competition, but with British accents and kind competition.  I mean, the hosts and contestants cry and hug each week as someone has to be sent home!  We always have two snacks - a salty one (Eli's most regular choice is salt and vinegar chips) and a sweet one (tonight we're trying our hand at cake pops).  I love Friday nights.

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