I Love You, Cool Weather!

This has been the hottest summer ever. on. record. in Arkansas. And I'm pregnant. To say it's been miserable is really an understatement - there were so many days that I just wanted the day to be over, because I couldn't stand the heat.

But the past week has been AMAZING! As soon as the weather turned cooler, even though I was really sick, I was just so much happier! I think pretty much everyone in Arkansas has felt that way.

Labor Day was our first cool day, so for Family Night, we went to a state park close by and grilled hot dogs, played on the playground, went for a walk, and just tried to suck in all the lovely fall-ness in the air!

None of us wanted to leave the park, and we stayed past bedtime.

Twist on Movie Night

We took a break from Family Night over the summer, but since school is just over a week away (yay!) we brought it back this week. We have done a movie night for Family Night before, but I saw this great idea on Pinterest, and decided to give it a try...

All day today, the kids got to earn tickets by doing jobs around the house - we just used a roll of raffle tickets I bought at Walmart a while back. Then, after dinner, they got to use those tickets to buy a ticket to the movie along with concessions: popcorn, Sprite, peanuts, and candy.

The kids were SO helpful all day - they cleaned and cleaned, did their chores without a second thought, and just jumped at any opportunity to help out. It was great! I bought the anniversary edition of Sword In The Stone, which the girls had never seen, and we piled all the pillows and blankets around the house on the living room floor and watched it.

We started the movie at 6:30, immediately after dinner (I set up everything for the movie while cooking and the kids got into pajamas) so I wanted to make something both light and at least a little healthy for dinner, knowing they would eat a bunch of junk right after. So I made stuffed zucchini - they were yummy and not too filling.

Stuffed Zucchini

3 large zucchini (try to get them around the same size)
1/3 cup diced cooked ham
1 Tbsp chopped parsley
1 Tbsp plain breadcrumbs
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp dried basil
dash of nutmeg
salt and pepper
1.5 Tbsp butter
1/5 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bring a large pot of water to boil. Trim the ends off the zucchini and boil in the water for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small saucepan, add flour, and then slowly add milk. Whisk and cook over low heat until it begins to thicken. In a medium bowl, combine the remaining ingredients, then slowly add the white sauce. Drain the zucchini, slice in half length wise, and use a spoon to scoop out most of the pulp. Drain the pulp in a colander and then add to the ham mixture. The zucchini should look like little boats - place them in a shallow, buttered baking pan, then fill with the ham mixture. Mix a little parmesan with more breadcrumbs and sprinkle on top. Bake for 30 minutes.

Happy Monday!

Nails, Firecrackers, Cousins, Watermelon, Freedom!

Memorial Day Weekend

Last weekend was so good.

Friday I spent all morning crying at Sophia's school graduation/closing, which made me so sad and gave me such a migraine that I literally went to bed around noon and didn't get back up. I love Davis for letting me do that, because I was mess and just couldn't face the rest of the day. But

Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23

Saturday morning the sun rose.

I got up super early and quickly packed our bags and the kids, and we headed down to Louisiana to visit my dad. We got Sophia a swing set for her birthday, so we left town while Davis assembled it (so that Sophia wouldn't see and be surprised... also I didn't want to be around that kind of language LOL!) We also just needed to get away and be distracted. The drive was great, although as we went south the temperature rose dramatically. We stopped in Lewisville, Arkansas and has some yummy Burge's

there is a playground a couple of blocks away (the only one in town), so we took our food there and I let the kids run around a little. Sophia looked at the playground and said "this place is OLD!" She was right - I looked at the equipment and just hoped that it could handle two more 40 lbs kids before rusting to pieces!

Look at my little toddler toddling around

Um, so then my camera died and I have no pictures from our visit. But I know my stepmom has some, and there were some great ones from when we went swimming at a lake, so I will get them from her and post them later. We had lots of fun, and the kids were completely exhausted at night from playing in the heat and swimming! They are Southern kids for sure, especially the girls, the 100 degree heat doesn't seem to bother them at all.

We left Monday morning, so that we could celebrate Memorial Day with Davis and let the kids play on the swing set. This was Sophia's face the minute she saw it

She said "this is the best day of my life!!!" It has already been a huge lifesaver with the girls home all day - yesterday they were just swinging and talking to each other while I cleaned the kitchen and looked out at them. That moment was one of the happiest of MY life.

Monday afternoon, we invited Davis's brother and his wife and their three kids over

and we grilled hot dogs and hamburgers and corn and just sat around - us adults in the shade, the kids running around like maniacs.

They cooled off with the Slip N Slide

and we put the kiddie pool at the bottom of the slide - that was a big hit!

I told Davis, "this is just a huge dose of HAPPY - exactly what we needed!" And it was. No one fought, no one cried, no one worried about the future or the past, everyone was just happy and at peace and enjoying the moment. I am so thankful for that.

I went to put Henry to bed at one point, and came back out to this

The girls were COVERED in mud! After everyone left, we hosed them off outside with the hose, then I rinsed them and washed them with the shower in the tub, then they took a bath, then I rinsed them with the shower again. There was mud everywhere that night - in the tub, the kitchen floor, probably still behind their ears. It made me so happy.

The next morning, we celebrated the first real official day of Summer Vacation with cinnamon rolls... except when the girls requested them, I didn't have time to make them. So we spread some butter on crescent rolls and sprinkled them with cinnamon and sugar before rolling them up, baked them as usual, and served them with milk/vanilla/powdered sugar icing for dipping. Yummy!

I have TEN half gallons of milk in my fridge, because this weekend we are expecting some company - more happy, muddy, in-the-moment, chaotic fun to come!!

Robots

For family night tonight, we made R.O.B.O.T.S.

Everyone got an empty, washed can,

and we filled the table with old junk - we didn't purposefully collect this stuff, it's just what was laying around the house and garage (scary, huh?) Davis also took apart an old computer and a couple of old thumb drives for some neat parts.

Then I set up a hot gluing station (I was in charge of hot gluing) and everyone designed their robots.

Henry was supervising - he sat in his high chair for over an hour just watching.

Of course Davis's robot has guns at the end of its... tentacles?

The finished products will live on a shelf that I still need to build in the kitchen/dining room/robot garage, watching over us as we eat.

I think this was one of my favorite Family Night's ever - it took almost no preparation and everyone had so much fun!

'Round Here

What's happening around here? Other than medical drama and take out dinners? Well...

Henry has been spending lots of time out in the yard with his Daddy. When he comes in, he looks like this

Good thing he loves bath time! The water was BROWN when he got out. A couple of weeks ago I had to scrub the tub with Bar Keeper's Friend (love that stuff!) and a scrub brush to get the rings and dirt out. I told a friend of mine who just has one baby, and therefore a very clean house, that five years ago I never would have imagined that it would come to this!! But you know what? Tub rings mean my kids are playing outside, and that is a fine thing.

For Family Night last week, we rented Tangled. I knew Davis would love it (I saw it in the theater with a friend a few months ago, but no one else had seen it) and the girls loved it too

Henry just crawled around on everyone growling and trying to steal popcorn. It was the ONE time he didn't go to bed at 6:45.

Sophia is a monkey.

She asked me to take her to her school playground so she could play on all the equipment that they don't let the kindergartners play on. I was a little conflicted about it, because usually I wouldn't want to disobey school rules. But she's a good climber, and I think they are being a little overly cautious, so I told her she could only because there was a parent there to watch her personally - the teachers can't keep that close an eye on the kids, which is why they have those rules.

She is still leaving love notes around for everyone all the time. They are everywhere, making us happy.

I am sick. Blech. Of course I am still queasy 24/7. I am especially sick to my stomach when I am hungry and after I eat (which leaves about 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the afternoon that I feel semi-okay). But I think that late night in the ER the other night killed the rest of my immune system, because Friday night I crashed around 7pm. I woke up three hours later with a horrible sore throat and swollen lymph nodes in my neck. I've been fighting this thing HARD - lots of orange juice, epsom salt baths, trying to rest.

I am headed to Florida in a couple of hours. I am speaking a big conference (Sophia is so mad at me for going to Disney World without her!) and will be gone until Wednesday afternoon. I have a stack of little golden treasures on our mantel - one for each day that I'm gone, for the kids to open after breakfast.

And that's what's happening 'round here. I don't know how much time I'll have to blog in Florida. The conference schedule is pretty packed, and I have to get ready for my talk. It'll just depend on how bad I feel, and whether I spend all my evenings sleeping!

My Week So Far

Let's see if I can jumble together a completely random post from this week, since I just realized my blogging has gone by the wayside...

We had a GOOD dinner Monday night (Family Night!)

Gorditas
(from Cookie - I miss that magazine!)

1 can creamed corn
1/2 cup water
2/3 cup cornmeal
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Mix the corn, water and cornmeal in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir to combine and then continue stirring until the liquid is absorbed ~ 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the butter and cheese. Grease 6 giant muffin pans and spread the cornmeal mixture on the bottom of the muffin pan and up the sides a little, then bake for about 25 minutes. Let cool a little then remove from pan.

Let everyone fill their little cups with whatever toppings they want - we had

(ignore my tablecloth... iron much? no I don't, thanks for asking)

black beans, chopped tomatoes, chopped lettuce, salsa, sour cream, and shredded rotisserie chicken (and a side of Spanish rice).

If this sweet pea will eat it, it has to be GOOD. She's going through an extra picky phase right now.

Henry shoveled it into his mouth with his cute little wooden spoon.

*************************

I don't know why I have so many pictures of Amelia right now. Sophia is going through an extra HYPER phase right now, she's never still enough for a picture! But Amelia, she's glued to my phone

and today she put on a leotard and asked me to make her into a rabbit.

*************************

Davis is hanging out with the guys tonight. I got MAD at work today (it's not often I get MAD, much less at work) and I was just so, so tense when I got home. I decided to relax, watch a movie, eat a bunch of Airheads.

I rented The Next Three Days (Russel Crowe take me away!) but nooooo... I think my blood pressure is near fatal right now. My heart is racing. I want to run away and scream! I think I will need some sedatives when this movie is over. It's good, but it's NOT relaxing!

P.S.
The movie just ended... I sent Davis a text

Me: I'm MORE stressed out after this movie.
Davis: Haha.
Me: I'm going to see if there's anything good on Lifetime.
Davis: Hahahahahahahaha.

*************************

That's all. Happy Middle of the Week!