Not Me

I did not have watermelon for dessert. I have no idea what you are talking about...you can't prove it.

Friend Makin' Monday~4th of July

I am participating in today's Friend Makin' Monday fun. It is a weekly carnival in which bloggers meet each other and share ideas and opinions. I am excited to take part for the second (or third) time. This week is all about the 4th of July. If you want to join in too, go here for the details. You can link up with Shawn, the host this week, by clicking here.

What are you doing this July 4th?

This year we will be celebrating the 4th as a family of 4!

We will hang out here at the house and in the evening we will celebrate with all our neighbors. We usually get permission from the city to block off the street. We have tons of food and drinks. We set up a volleyball net and a water slide for the kids! It is a hoot. I am looking forward to it this year because I was hugely pregnant last year. When the sun goes down our HOA does an amazing fireworks show. We just plop our chairs in the front yard and watch the show! Layla is loving each holiday more and more so we are hoping for a BLAST this year.

**What is your favorite dish to pass when attending a 4th of July party or summer barbecue?**

I usually make my Mmmmm brownies and this year I am making Warm Mexican dip. There should be a warning label on the dip. It is to die for, and we have a joke about how addicting it is...my best friend calls it 'crack dip' Not that she'd know about crack, but you get the idea :) Check the bottom of this post for the recipe.

**Do you have any July 4th traditions?**

Our tradition is to hang with the neighbors! We should start some family traditions for before the block party...give me some ideas if you have any! The block party is in the afternoon/evening. We should certainly do something before that, we just never have.

Layla last year

**Share your favorite July 4th picture.**

4th of July family picture from 2007

And one from 2008...I was about to pop..9 months pregnant.

I was sooooo miserable and it was so HOT!!

Warm Mexican Dip

8oz cream cheese

8 oz sour cream

2 cans Frito's bean dip

4 oz chopped green chilies

10 dashes of Tabasco

1cup cheddar cheese

1cup Monterrey Jack cheese

pinch of salt

Mix all ingredients with half of the cheese in a 9x13 Pyrex. Sprinkle rest of cheese on top. Bake @ 350 for 20 minutes. Serve with chips.

Happy 4th of July.

Leave me comments of your 4th of July traditions that you think I should incorporate to our family of 4!!

Weekend Recap

Wow...it was a busy weekend, but boy was it fun! Friday night Gary grilled steaks for just US. We waited until the kids were in bed, and then we had a fun date in the backyard grilling and talking.

After dinner we visited with our neighbors DeeDee and Paul. They are so fun and we love hanging out with them telling silly stories and talking about our kids. They have an adorable son named Luke, and he was born on July 25 one year before Hayden...so they will be buddies for sure!

Saturday night was the first night we hired a babysitter to stay with the kids. Layla's preschool teacher, Daphne, came over to hang out with LK and HC. It was great to leave them with a sitter. We have been looking for someone to keep them, other than family. Daphne brought her 10 year old daughter Carli. Layla loves Carli so she had a ball AND stayed up WAY too late. It was ok with us though, because she had a ball! Gary and I went to hangout with some buddies that are moving to North Carolina. We are really sad to see them go :( We had a fun time visiting with them and a few other couples. We got in the pool and it was very refreshing and quite warm. We enjoyed our adult night!

This morning the kids had fun walking. Hayden is doing really well trying to walk, but isn't really steady. Layla helped him along. They walked hand in hand all throughout the house early this morning. I'm thinking he will be walking really soon!

Then they would fall over into a heap of giggles!

Splashin' around

Layla kept getting her eyelashes in her eyes today...they are so long!

That is a great problem to have :)

Loving the splash park

I love these tooters!!



Hayden was trying to wiggle away from me. He is always on the move!

Oh, after seeing pictures of myself I am off to the store to purchase
The Shred. Enough said!

Summer Yummy

We have been at the pool almost everyday this week. We usually go after naps in the afternoon. It is so nice to come in to a cool house and smell dinner in the slow cooker. After a fun in the sun we have to do baths and then I have two hungry kids. Or one. Hayden eats everything! I'm not kidding, but Layla she is currently on food strike. Yesterday I made an incredibly fattening casserole, with cheese and pasta...she ate a banana and almonds. I guess she was the smart one :) However I am all about easy and once again the slow cooker works for me. When my kids are older I am looking forward to cooking more gourmet meals. I found a homemade tamale recipe in The Food Network magazine...holy yummyness. I can't wait for a weekend to cook those, so here goes another EASY 'summer yummy' recipe.



Slow-cooked Italian Chicken

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 pkg. dry Italian dressing mix
1 can of 98% fat free cream of mushroom soup
4 oz can mushrooms, drained
8 oz fat-free plain yogurt

Place chicken in slow cooker. Mix together dressing mix, soup, yogurt and mushrooms. Stir into chicken.

Cook for 6 hours.


We ate this with a salad with a sun dried tomato vinaigrette dressing. It is made by Kraft and it is to die for! It is Gary's new favorite dressing.

I love looking at recipes online. I get an email from BettyCrocker, Allrecipes, and Campbell's. I love the patriotic desserts and fruit salads posted this time of year. Check them out. I am gonna add a new addition to my side bar so you can see where I get some of my recipes! Happy Friday :))

Old dogs new tricks

Sit...make a crazy face...good dogs.

Wordless Wednesday

The little puzzler

Layla loves puzzles. She got this 25 piece puzzle on Saturday and has done it a million times since. I think she is ready for even more pieces. We have a puzzle of the US and she loves learning about the states.

You go girl!! Get your puzzle on :)

Chillin' Out

What is a daddy?

I am truly blessed to be surrounded by wonderful men. I am so lucky to have 4 amazing Father's in my life. I have my daddy...he is MY daddy, and I love him so much. He showed me as I grew into a woman what a daddy should be. I wanted to find someone like him to marry. Someone funny, strong and caring. Someone that listened and understood. He took care of me and helped me to become the person I am today. I found someone like him, my husband, my Gary. He is the most amazing husband and father to my children. He is my soul mate. I am the luckiest lady to have him. He too was raised by a wonderful man, Big Gary. Big Gary is dearly missed and I think of him every day. I often wonder what he would have thought of his grandchildren. I am so sad that they will never know the amazing man that he was.

God has placed all these men in my life and I am so thankful. I don't understand all that God does, and I don't know why he had to take Big Gary from us. I can just be glad in knowing that he has a plan for our family.

Happy Father's Day to all the daddy's out there :))

Bozo

I have been trying to get a good 'teeth' shot for everyone that is asking...so here you go! The added bonus...a milky bottom lip and chin :))

Four teeth coming in at one time! Sweet :) Tanya, our pastor's wife, said that it is a blessing to have four teeth coming in at once, because that is 3 less times we have to go through this teething thing! Hahaha...Amen to that!

My silly boy! He has become quite the little clown. I sure do love this clown :)

In case you were wondering...this is half of a plastic Easter egg.

Gosh this is the funniest toy.
It is a princess kettle-bath toy. The kids play with it in the bath each night. Hayden was goofing around the other night crawling after his bath...breathing through this thing. It has holes in the top part like a watering can. I know...it doesn't make sense, but is a silly picture. Hayden makes us laugh everyday!

Chicken Rollatini

I found this recipe in a magazine. It is an advertisement for Classico Pasta Sauce. I put my spin on it when I made it last night, and as Guy Fieri says it was ON POINT!

Chicken Rollatini

3 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
24 salami or pepperoni slices...I used only 18 pieces, and I used salami
6 provolone slices...I used Swiss cheese
18 asparagus spears, trimmed
1 jar of pasta sauce, divided
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan or Romano cheese...I used Italian blend


Preheat oven to 350. Halve each chicken breast and pound to 1/4 inch thick. Season with salt and pepper. Place 3 salami slices, one cheese slice and 3 asparagus spears in center of each breast; roll up and secure with a toothpick.

Spread 1/2 cup of sauce on bottom of a large glass baking dish. Put chicken rolls in dish. Top with remaining sauce and sprinkle with shredded cheese.

Bake uncovered for 30-40 minutes or until cooked through.

My least favorite part of this recipe was pounding out the chicken breasts. I'm not a big fan of chicken, but I took the wax paper and meat cleaver approach. Oh my messyness. Yuck!! Layla was laughing. The wax paper got holes in it, and chicken bits were flying all around the counter top. I was a cleaning freak after it was all said and done! BUT it was so worth it & next time I should just buy chicken cutlets. The recipe was yummy.

To my readers...

If you haven't noticed I really enjoy blogging. It is therapeutic for me. I know I am not a polished writer and sometimes ramble on about random stuff. So okay I am transparent! It is fun to share my life and my family experiences with my readers. I like taking pictures of my kids, dogs and husband...have ya noticed? I'm glad to be 'scrap booking' so my family and friends can keep up with us and someday look back at these awesome moments.



Keep reading...heck get your friends to read too! Leave me comments! I LOVE COMMENTS :)). I want to get tips and advice from you guys. I'm sure you can help me on this fun, crazy and interesting life journey!

Stay tuned for a new recipe tomorrow..woo hoo :) and I wonder why I can't fit into my shorts. Teehee, but I'm thinking do it...cook it...eat it!! Do everything in moderation!! Like blogging...huh?!

Pool time

Kristin came to play with us today, so we went to the pool.

Thanks for coming to splash with us in the water!

Hayden had fun, but ended up having more fun playing with my cup.

We are having swimsuit technical difficulties.

Tough Guys

Lost in Ross

We lost Bebe {sounds like: baybay} yesterday. For those of you who don't know...Bebe is Layla's best buddy. Gary's mother gave her BeBe before she was born. Bebe looks like she is almost 80 years old. She was once cream colored and fluffy, but now she is dirty and loved! Layla was so upset when we got home yesterday...no Bebe. We searched the car, Hayden's diaper bag and all our shopping bags and still no Bebe. Bedtime was hard...until I called the last store we went to...Ross. I made myself giggle when I described Bebe.



Umm Hello,

yes, I was in your store today with my children, and my daughter seems to have lost her pet lamb. She is a dirty brownish colored lamb with a crooked pink nose.


Have you seen her by chance?

They had Bebe!!!



Can you believe it? I honestly can't. I have a renewed faith in people and niceness...if that is a word.



We decided to drive to Ross last night to pick her up. It was way past bedtime, but Layla and I made the trip while the boys slept (HC) and cooked dinner (GS). It made her night, month and year. We thought she was gone forever. We talked her through dinner about how sometimes we loose things. Gary told her about when he lost his wedding ring in Lake Whitney. I told her about loosing my favorite shirt when I was 6 years old. She was ok until bed. She even had me tearing up. Gary said he felt like he lost a pet. HA!! We are softies.

Anyway...all is well now! WooHoo.


Here is a recent shot of Layla and Bebe. Bebe swims too...super pet lamby :)

Stinkin' Hot

Focused!

We had a great weekend! Here are a couple of pictures of the kids and their hot little faces. We have lots of fun playing outside, but we get so hot!

We have plenty of 'summer' activities that are keeping Layla's mind off of the broken trampoline. In case you don't follow me on Facebook or Twitter...the storm that blew through on last Wednesday evening broke the base of the trampoline. She was great about it, but we can tell that she misses it. So cute! She told me that she knew she was playing with the swing set more than the trampoline. Now she feels bad for being partial! She is so sweet. It is possible that we may be able to fix the trampoline, but we took it down for now. We will search for the parts needed for its repair!

We are about to watch a recorded episode of WipeOut! Layla loves it...you should hear her laugh at the silly people doing all the goofy stunts! We are all tired from a fun weekend...Good night :)

Summer Food

Summertime is so full of HOT outdoor activities. After the pool or slip~n~slide the last thing I want to do is come inside and heat up the kitchen, to then eat a filling HOT meal. Arghhh!

I am always looking for 'summerish' recipes that are light. We like salads, sandwiches, wraps and anything grilled. You know summer foods :) So when I threw all these ingredients into the slow cooker; I was worried we would take a few bites and run for the guacamole. Yay!! We didn't & even the kids loved it! It is a great recipe for a hot day!! I changed it up (as I normally do), but I got a version of this recipe from the Fix It and Forget It Lightly cookbook that I'm loving right now!



Ham & Scalloped Potatoes

1 1/2 pounds of low sodium ham, cut into 6 pieces (I used a Cook's Ham Steak.)

8 red potatoes, thinly sliced
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 cup of graded cheddar cheese
1 can of 98% fat free cream of celery soup
salt & pepper
paprika


Layer ham, potatoes and onions in slow cooker. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and paprika and half the cheese. Repeat layers. Spoon undiluted soup over ingredients. Cook on low for 8-10 hours.

Throw food in the slow cooker and go have fun in the sun. When you return it is a great treat to grab dinner...already READY!

Holy Guacamole

My children love fresh guacamole. They 'hoover' it as my friend Megan would say! I made some today for lunch, and Layla ate it on a whole wheat wrap. She is really into making her own food. She put cheese and turkey and guac on the wrap and went to town. Hayden...well he just grabs and stuffs it into his mouth. Very messy for mommy to clean up, but he won't let me spoon feed him anymore.

This is a great picture of Hayden's teeth.

See my new Ipod...thanks to all of you for the birthday gift cards and cash. Gina sent me this iHome. It is handy-dandy :) You just hook the Ipod to it and music plays loud and proud!

Notice my FAV recipe book...I am planning my menu for the next few weeks. We had two more yummy slow cooker recipes this week...Mmmmm. I will post one tomorrow. Now I am off to see what HC is into. He is pulling up on everything, and keeps Layla and I on our toes during the day. Thank goodness she is such a good little helper.

How could I let this happen?!?

I haven't posted these two adorable faces in about a week! I know you guys have missed them!

HC~ Eating his 1st ever donut hole. It took about 2.2 seconds too devour this little morsel of goodness.

LK~Helping me in the yard. We finally tackled my nasty flower beds...I'm so glad that is done. They look much better :)

Oak Hill River Inn

This is a picture of two attached cabins. You can walk on the deck over to see buddies staying in other cabins. They look smaller, so I am thinking they may be one bedrooms...not sure?!? I'm thinking you can rent the whole kit and kabootle if you are doing a big family gathering. Prices and info are on the website...click below!

http://oakhillriverinn.com/

Several people have asked me about the cabin we stayed in this past weekend. So...I decided to post a few more pictures...you know I took tons of shots with my new camera!

I like this picture because it shows the fun ceiling on the deck, and of course the TEXAS flag...my favorite!

I took this pic on our deck facing the river. If you look closely you can see the water on the other side of the road.

King bedroom

Queen Bedroom





If you go float...go to the LoneStar FloatHouse. We rented our tubes there, and they have the most amazing cheeseburger. It was just want we needed when we got off the river!!

Floating Fun :)

My toesies

Gary getting a new tube after his got a hole in it, and he sunk! Ha! crazy stuff.

Gary taking a picture of Me, Dana & Tim. Happy Birthday today Dana!!!

We laughed so much that day. We ALWAYS have a ball with Dana and Tim.

Thanks for the fun trip guys!! Let's do it again soon (minus the sunburn!)

Relaxing Evening

Gary has been home today recovering and spending the day with the kids before heading back to work tomorrow. It was a fun day of family time. As you can see the picture above, Gary loves the camera as much as I do! He took this picture and it is a great relaxing shot. Tonight has been nice since the kids went to bed. The clouds are rolling around and making the sky so peaceful and swirly.

I have river pictures to post soon, but the waterproof camera photos are getting developed as we speak...so hopefully more river pictures to come in the next few days...Goodnight!

Little Cabin on the River

****POST UPDATE****

We had a wonderful adult weekend away!

The cabin we stayed in was amazing. I told Gary when I first met him that one of my life-goals was to own a bed and breakfast when I retire...this would be an ideal place to retire!! It was perfectly landscaped and was just a quaint little group of cabins. Our cabin had two bedrooms, one bath, a full kitchen and the most amazing covered deck. We grilled outside, and spent most of our time outside on the deck.

I am getting a little irritated with my computer right now because the amazing pics I took will not download....so I am off to bed. I am very tired today...the sun just zaps ya when you float. I will try to add the pictures in the morning.