with cheese?

We all have stuffy noses.

M asked me this morning what was in her nose.

I said, snot and boogers.

She asked, cheeseboogers???

I needed a good laugh this morning!

Es-Cape

I told W that I needed to escape last night.

He asked if I needed to go to the grocery store by myself.

um....not quite what I meant.

Then my baby woke up with a fever.

not quite what I had in mind either.

I need an attitude adjustment!

Grandpa's on Vacation!

And you never know what that's gonna mean!

This time, he took anyone who could go to Petit Jean State Park to a cabin over night. My little family went with my parents and Sam and Grace (everyone else had to work and W and Grace came up late after work and left early the next morning for work again!)

This is our lovely cabin

and the not so bad view from the back porch!

where you could sit and read or have a snack

and if you want to take a drive down the mountain, overlook the lush rolling Arkansas countryside!

another view from the cabin (sigh!)

we took an easy walk down to overlook the waterfall. It was a lovely walk and a lovely view

LG and M were fabulous! M LOVED exploring! She had black feet from running around outside by the time we left!

Grandpa and his girls

stay tuned for part B! Boating on Lake Ouachita! (pronounced Wah-chi-tah :)

thank you thank you Mom and Dad!!

Oh my good gracious!

my BABY sister Grace is getting married! He flew all the way here last night and totally surprised her to ask her to marry him!

Isn't it pretty?? I'm excited for her but still can't believe it!!!!!!!!

my other sweet girl

The other day, she got into the pool like this. She dipped her hair in the water to be like Ariel and actually let me swim with her. (lately she just wants to stay in the shallow end and play by herself)

Then she took off the goggles and said, "I don't need these buggles anymore!"

Me: what did you call them?

M: buggles! buggles to see in the water!

I gotta get me some buggles! :)

This was W and M on the back porch last Sunday during their chat. I'm thankful for my sweet man who knew I needed a break and enjoyed a quiet chat with his daughter.

Arkansas Home Grown!

W has a coworker who lives on a farm in Hot Springs. She has brought in some yummy corn for everyone at work and last week she brought more goodies! We got scrumptious tomatoes, pickling cucumbers, and OKRA!

Do you know how to cook okra? You DO NOT boil it!! That is, unless you like eating snot.

So, in honor of our farm fresh produce, we had a good ole southern meal last weekend! W was so excited for it! LG was our handy sous chef and M wanted nothing to do with what we made! :)

To properly cook okra, well, you fry it. It's really the only way to go! Trim the ends and chop it into 1" pieces.

Beat an egg or two and coat your okra in it. Let it sit for a few minutes.

Meanwhile, get out your Arkansas farm-grown catfish and dredge it in butter, lemon juice and cajun seasonings. Then, you bake for twenty minutes so that you have SOMEthing at this meal that isn't fried!

Dredge your okra in a mixture of cornmeal, salt and pepper.

Fry it! I am not a very good frier. I usually end up with a lot of blackened fried food first. :) I was a good girl this time and used my handy dandy candy thermometer! How about that rhyming! I didn't even do that on purpose!

We also made hush puppies! We were going to make them from scratch but last minute at the store, I found a mix by Zatarain's, the maker of my Jambalaya mix that we love so dearly. So we did that and they were fabulous!!

So we enjoyed our spicy catfish, moist hush puppies, okra (then you dip it in ketchup!) and fresh sliced tomatoes! (still haven't figured out what to do with the cucumbers! :)

I just might open my windows!

The low tonight is going to be 62 degrees!

Praise Almighty!

Moments

I am so thankful for the moments that remind me what the point is.

Sunday morning, we ended up with extra time before church. (I'm kind of neurotic about being on time, so we sometimes get up tooo early!) W took M out on the back deck and they just sat in the camp chairs looking at the sky before it got blazingly hot. I went back to look and M was just chatting away to her Daddy. I love it.

Monday night, we managed to have a family home evening moment! The first one in ages since we moved! W was sharing a story and M was just staring at him like it was the most fascinating thing ever!

I am so thankful that between peeing on the floor, coloring on my sheets, throwing tantrums, ignoring me completely, and hitting her sister, that she often comes and snuggles with me in the morning in bed, strokes my cheek and says "I just love you".

It just makes it all worth it.

HP6!

So I still don't understand the entire scene that was added that was not in the book (that I remember!) but other than that we loved it!

I love this girl!

She got her fourth tooth on Sunday!

She still looks like a jack-o-lantern though! 

She got her bottom right middle in April, followed shortly by her bottom right canine. (yes, I'm attempting to keep track at least SOMEhow!) Then at the end of June, she got the right lateral incisor on top. Yes, weird!  One Sunday she got her right lateral incisor so she has three in a row on the bottom and doesn't quite look so much like her teeth are rotting out rather than growing in weird! :) 

funny girl!

She scrunches her face and nose when she smiles right now. I love it!

How do YOU Harry Potter?!?!?!?

It's here! It's tonight! But I have to work tomorrow so I will not be joining the midnight masses this time! But it's here! I'm so excited!

IN 2007, we were crazy nuts and went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter 5: The Order of the Phoenix! I was having surgery the next day so I knew I wouldn't be working or need to be alert, and it was a fun hurrah before feeling like crap for a few weeks. W and I felt like chaperones, we were the only adults there except for other parents who were there with their teenagers. We did not dress up. But we know people who did! ;)

This year, we're going to try and make it before Friday. :) We'll see how well we do with that!

Rave Reviews!

It's been a while since I shared my diamonds in the rough with you.

So, without further adieu,

1. Leven Thumps! I am loving this series! I've read the first two, they are creative and fun and different but magical and scratch my "I miss Harry Potter" itch!

2. And if that didn't do it, the fourth installment of Fablehaven is helping this series turn into one of my very favorites! I love these books and I'm at the edge of my seat waiting for the conclusion now!
3. On a whole 'nother level, another new fave at our house comes directly from the bagged cereal section! Blueberry muffin tops are delicious!!! LG is an even bigger fan than I am and will ignore her cheerios but kick and squeal and slam her highchair tray (=the sign for more in her book) until she gets 'em! They're a blueberry spin on cinnamon toast crunch and everyone out there should try 'em!
4. And to round out our reviews, three movies! We rented Australia from the red box last night and while I thought it was one of those movies that could have ended several times before it did, it was still enjoyable. And yes, Hugh Jackman was hot.
Up! is Fantastic! M was a doll and sat so well with her cute 3D glasses on the whole time and we just loved this show! It was a truly pleasant surprise!

and finally yes, the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. I had heard it was not worth seeing. However, I enjoyed the books and figured it was worth a $1 redbox splurge and it was! I guess when you're expecting a terrible movie, it's easier to enjoy but I thought it was great.

Stay tuned for your next installment!

Beat

I am struggling as the parent of a toddler.
She is sassy.
She is whiny.
She is fussy.
She deliberately acts up when I try to set limits.
She thinks she doesn't need naps, but anyone who's seen her banshee-like attitude at 5pm after no nap knows otherwise!
She breaks her toys and then acts as if she couldn't care less when I try to give her consequences.

That's the part that is making me crazy.
I'm trying so hard to be consistent and patient but when I do, it's like it backfires!
She is pushing every button I have and many more that I didn't even know existed.
It makes me angry, mean and I worry all the time right now that she's only going to remember me as a mean mommy.

I usually AM crying or am READY to cry as soon as W walks in the door.

I pray every day that I will have patience and know how to raise her so that she won't be a snotty brat but the sweet girl that she used to be. I keep trying to remind myself that this is a phase, but ten month phases are really really rough on the soul!

SYTYCD

My favorite from last night's dance show. Fast forward to 4:50 and enjoy!

Happy Fourth!

Here are my patriotic girls wishing you a happy freedom day!

We celebrated by going to the Clinton Library (it's was free! the best way to go there!)

M wasn't so sure about posing behind the spaceman (LG wasn't either but her picture is on Aunt Sarah's camera...soon to come hopefully!)

We had a lovely lunch of catfish, okra and hush puppies and the girls liked it!

Then we swam and relaxed by the pool!

This pic of M is my favorite right now!

This is what W did all afternoon. He's working so hard to study for his test!!

making milk :)

We went to a fun BBQ at our friends' that evening where my two girls promptly fell to pieces and we concluded the evening in front of a movie. :)

We LOVED having Aunts Sarah and Becca here this weekend. They were good aunts and played Pretty Pretty Princess with M and swam and relaxed. It was a great weekend!

Anyone for a Bath?

We had W's sisters here for the weekend to visit! We decided to take them down to Hot Springs to tour the bath houses and enjoy the Arkansas scenery!

the girls were wonderful and had fun being out and about!

Along Bathhouse Row we took in the sights, toured the Fordyce Bathhouse, and enjoyed pretty downtown Hot Springs.

Becca, Sarah and M relaxing in the Men's bath

a view of downtown

Police Academy Graduation!

I have been meaning to post these for almost a month but just got the pictures from Dad's camera on the computer.

Jake graduated from the police academy!!! Hooray!

20 weeks of grueling, hard work paid off.

He was even honored for the top Academics!

It was very cool to be there. He deserves this. He has worked so hard and it's fun to see how well this fits him. He just IS a cop!

my brother is in the second row from the front, fourth from the left (the bald one)

getting his badge from the chief

with his three cute boys!

He's working in the southern part of the city because they know he speaks Spanish, let's just say he'll be able to use those skills in that part of town :)

Congratulations! We are so proud of him!

See??? He comes by it honestly!

Jonas (much to his police officer daddy chagrin)

an oldie I found this weekend, of Ev and Christian

Every little boy loves to wear a dress at sometime, I guess