A New Grill!

This isn’t a grill; it’s my sweet boy James!

This face reminds me of someone, but I’m not sure who.  :)

We ate outside a few times last week, and it was so delightful to keep my dining room clean!

Thursday Matt received a gift of a new grill!!

The old one had stopped working a while ago (after dying a slow death).  Bye bye!

Isn’t this a beauty?!

So the next day of course we grilled out!  I didn’t actually get pictures of our grilled chicken and potatoes, but they were yummy!

We love eating watermelon outside!  Isn’t this the biggest mess you’ve ever seen?!  (I do put clips in her hair… I promise!)

James LOVES watermelon!

The girls took the last of their water and went to put it on the Joanna rose.

I’m looking forward to making my husband encouraging my husband to cook dinner outside often!

Harlan Girls Birthday Party

Last week our buddies Emma and Kaitlyn had a shared birthday party in their grandma’s backyard.  So fun!

Here is Joanna having a go at the slip-n'-slide:

Then Natalie had a turn.  She just hopped.  It was very funny.

Ice pops to cool down – yum!!

Look at that sweet Anna.  :)

My Natalie is so cute!

Even though it’s a little dark, I LOVE this shot of Joanna.

Opening presents!  My girls got the birthday girls a lap easel thing with whiteboard on one side and a magnetic chalk board on the other, with magnetic letters.

Mmmmmm… Pizza for lunch!

Singing “Happy Birthday!”  Kaitlyn is up top, Emma is on the bottom right of the picture.

On our way out, Natalie posing with Emma.

Happy birthday sweet Harlan girls – we love you!

(You may have noticed there was no James in pictures.  He was at home napping with my mom.  I LOVE my mom!!!)

Swim Lessons

I had all the kiddos with me for Joanna’s last swim lesson, and we were at Miss Jen’s house.  I didn’t try to get in the water with the littles.  It wouldn’t have worked, I think.  :)

I brought snacks and the double stroller.  Except for the insane heat (I’m weak), it was pretty pleasant.

I took lots of pictures to entertain myself.

Wonderful Lisa got in the water and played with whoever wasn’t having their lesson.

My little fish:

Joanna’s getting pretty good!

I now interrupt Joanna swimming for James and Natalie eating snacks:

Joanna spent a lot of time going back and forth from the wall to Miss Jen, working on using her arms.  Jen is also trying to get her to be able to turn over onto her back when she needs air or is having a little trouble.

In the top of the picture you can see Joanna’s leg out of the water; my guess is I caught her kicking.  At the bottom you can see Anna diving for rings, I think.

Natalie’s sweaty nose:

James’ very sweaty nose. 

I really need to work harder on getting him to drink from a cup.  As it was, I pulled him out and nursed him (as I helped the girls in the bathroom – modesty, what?) so he could get a little liquid in him.

Look at those kicks!

And another little swim from Joanna!

Joanna really enjoys her swim lessons, and bit by bit, she’s really getting it!

Pasta (and then some more mock-cream pics)

My sister introduced me to a very yummy but simple way to eat pasta.  It’s with garlic/butter/parmesan cheese.  Except Kathryn did hers with olive oil, which I don’t really have a problem with, I just don’t like as much.  :)

Ingredients:
1/2 package of spaghetti (or whatever pasta you have around)
2 large cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (I’m sure the stuff in the can would work fine as well)
2 T butter, divided

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Drain, and return to pan.

Meanwhile, chop the garlic finely and cook it a little in about 1/2T of the butter until it’s softened a bit.  (Kathryn threw hers right in raw, but that was a little to much kick for me the kids.)

Add the remaining butter to the cooked pasta…

As well as the garlic (butter and all), and the parmesan cheese.

It’s really light, easy, and very yummy.  I know it would be delish to add some cooked broccoli in there as well, I just haven’t done that yet.

 

We’ve made the “Mock-cream” a couple of more times since I posted about it, so I thought I’d give an update.

Turns out the Magic Bullet is not  good for this, so back to the blender we went.

Looks totally gross doesn’t it?

The final bit of blending – it’s so pretty!

And into the bowl:

It really is quite tasty and almost satisfies a chocolate craving.  :)  The girls love it.  Last night I put a little heavy cream in, because I had some, but I’m not sure it made much difference.  I may add a little more next time; I do love heavy cream.  :)

Food

A week ago Friday we decided to go eat at the Chinese buffet because it sounded so good, and we’d saved up a little in our “entertainment” envelope for such a fun thing!

James very much enjoyed sitting in the high chair, eating his snacks.

And playing with spoons!

It was a very fun treat for all of us to eat what we want at a restaurant and not have to clean the dining room – wahoo!

Later in the week I made some black beans and rice in the crockpot.  James LOVED it.  I didn’t let him eat a ton, because I was a little worried about what the beans might do to him.  He was sure a mess!

On Wednesday we ran up to the front of Kingwood to pick up a gift, and couldn’t help ourselves… we decided to eat dinner at Cici’s.  We’re suckers for buffets, it seems.

Since we hadn’t planned to stop, I didn’t really have an “James” food with us.  I did find some Cheerios in the diaper bag though.  And they had a few things I didn’t mind him eating.  I cut up the chicken, carrots, and noodles in the soup, let him have a pizza crust or two, and he chewed on baby carrots.  He thought it was fabulous, and I figured it didn’t hurt too much.  :)

I can’t believe we ate out twice in less that a week’s time – ha!  Needless to say, our entertainment envelope is empty again!

Hmmmm… time to meal plan again!

VBS Singers

I have about a weeks worth of pictures to catch up with on the blog.  I don’t know why I do this to myself.  It’d be so much more simple and fun to blog as I go.  :)

Last Sunday (after Vacation Bible School), the kiddos sang one of their songs as the call to worship.  I took a video, which I posted on Facebook, but I think it’s too big for here.  I took a couple of pictures as well.

I totally spaced on the “wear red” thing, but I’m glad you can easily spot my girls in yellow in the front!

A little closer…

I’m pretty sure Natalie was the only two year old up there, but she really wanted to do it too, and I think she held her own!

Dream Journal

Very bizarre dream last night.

I was at Choir Clinic, which I used to go to every summer with the church when I was in high school.

My friend Amy Beasley was apparently going too because she saved me a seat on the van.  :)

I had James with me, but he wasn’t as big as he is now; he was little bitty.  And he looked like a baby kitten instead of a baby person.  But he was a baby person.  I kept forgetting to put a diaper on him so he peed on me a lot.

And I’d forgotten lots of things in my bag that I’d hastily packed.  But Jane Bradley was there, and she was going home then coming back so she could pick up my stuff.  I was planning to call my mother and have her pack a few things.

I saw an old friend from high school as well as our former pastor, Rev. Joe Fort.

Matt Stone was there, but that’s actually not so strange because he did go to choir clinic back in the day.

I think my sister was there, but she was leaving.

It rained at one point and ruined the banners people had painted.

I kept being late for things and missing things.  I think this is because James kept peeing on me.  :)