summer games

Are you watching the Olympics?

We are and I am trying to make a big deal of it so the kids will love it as much as I do.  My favorite sports are gymnastics and swimming.  I just love seeing our American Olympians participate in so many activities.  A sport I didn't think I'd love is archery.  It was so fun to watch and I was rooting for USA!!

I get tears in my eyes every time I hear the national anthem.  It is so awesome to see the home team get so many gold medals.  

I have been cleaning our house like a man woman and the games have been on the entire time.  I'm thinking once I get done with the house cleaning frenzy I am currently tangled in I will google some fun USA crafts for the kids to do.  I think it will help get them all fired up.

GO USA!

Gary's 20 year high school class reunion

Gary and I had a fun adult weekend in Waco celebrating at his 20 year class reunion.

It was so fun to see all the friends Gary has talked about for the past 16 years I have known him.

We started the weekend Friday playing a round of golf.  I had a great time practicing my swing and laughing at myself.  I actually didn't play too bad and I'm looking forward to playing golf again 

soon.

Friday and Saturday nights we hung out with all his old buddies and caught up with all his friends.   It was a really fun weekend!

The kids had fun spending the weekend at my parents house.

I was so excited to see them this morning.  I missed them but am thankful for the break!

As you can tell, I really didn't go crazy with the camera this weekend.  I just chilled out and took it all in.  It was nice to sit back and relax and listen to all the tall tales of Gary's younger years.  I am so exhausted from staying up late two nights in a row.  I am looking forward to watching gymnastics on TV and getting into my cozy bed tonight!

4th birthday recap

Hayden woke up on his birthday ready to eat a piece of cake!

I made a milk chocolate cake with cream cheese icing.

Hayden requested cake instead of cupcakes.  He asked for chocolate cake and white icing.

He couldn't wait for us to sing happy birthday to him.  He was awesome at blowing out his candles.

Then he just had to lick the icing from each candle!

Mmmmm!  The cake was good.  I am terrible at baking, but I am trying to get better.  I got so frustrated trying to ice the cake Tuesday night, but I finally managed to make it look presentable.  Hayden LOVED it and that is all that matters!

After cake he opened his presents.  Of course he got a monster truck.  It is the loudest creature ever.  It is called Monster Mutt.  He played with his new stuff and then we headed to lunch at Posada's Mexican restaurant.

I love my boys!

Hayden and Layla enjoyed the queso.  Layla had about 5 tortillas and Hayden ate ALL the steak fajita meat off the nachos they shared.

Bahhhh!  This picture is so funny.  He is chowing down a burrito he built himself.

***

After some rest time and a movie the birthday boy was begging to go to the pool.

The pool is so much fun now that Layla is a more confident swimmer.  Hayden has followed her lead.  He swims like a little fish with his arm floaties.  He loves them and we are enjoying seeing the kids have so much fun in the water.  Hayden and Layla both have fun jumping off their daddy into the water.

Layla's feet in the one picture above are of her perfecting her underwater handstand.  I loved doing hand stands and flips underwater when I was young.  Layla loves trying!

Hayden had the best day.  In this picture he is screaming "4 years old!!"

Tonight after our 4 year old was asleep his 7 year old big sister lost her 6th tooth!  She ran into the living room holding a tooth in her hand.  We were shocked and excited for her.  It was a fun way to end such a great day with our family.

Happy birthday to my little dude!!

Happy Birthday Hayden Cole

We are having the best day celebrating our 4 year old!!!

my favorite summer entree

Today I am joining Jenn for bon appetite!  We are featuring our favorite summer entrees.

My all time favorite summer entree won't come as a shock to most of you!

I ♥ TOSTADAS

I really like Mexican food.  I could eat it every single day of my life!

Tostadas are so versatile, light and somewhat healthy.  You can add any meat to them including shredded spicy chicken, ground taco beef or ground turkey.  I've even topped tostadas with roasted shrimp or grilled tilapia.  My favorite way to prepare a tostada is plain and simple with flavorful pinto beans and fresh guacamole.

I slather my flat tostada shells with creamy homemade refried beans.  Then I top them with shredded lettuce, diced home grown tomatoes, chopped red onions and shredded sharp cheddar cheese.  A tostada is just a boring ole tostada unless you top it with fresh homemade salsa.

What is your favorite summer entree?  

Be sure to head on over the Jenn's blog to find other great recipes and meal ideas for summer.

a birthday party and a lost tooth

Saturday night we celebrated Luke!  

Luke is our neighbor and he and Hayden share a birthday.  Luke is exactly one year older than Hayden.  He will turn 5 on Wednesday and Hayden will be 4 years old!

(Luke & DeeDee)

We had a fun night.  Layla never slowed down and was on the water slide non-stop.

Hayden did slide a few times, but a boy pushed him down the slide so he never got back on.  Grrrr.  I think he would have had fun, but that ruined it for him.  

Layla met a new friend and they bonded over having the same swim suit.  

Sweet girls!

Cake and ice cream!  YUM.

Silly little man was making me giggle.

After the sun went down the kids started dancing.  

Hayden had a fun time showing off his moves!

Layla made the water slide look so fun, so I decided to slide too.  It was so so fun!  

I felt like a kid and was convinced I got air-born.  There was a hump in the slide and it made me fly down super fast!

Sunday while running a few errands we saw a grass fire up close and personal.  I don't think I've ever seen a grass fire that close.  It was so scary.  We were stuck in traffic so I was able to snap a few pictures with my phone. Thankfully the fire was extinguished quickly.

Everything is so dry and this fire was just spreading so quickly. 

Sunday night while I was watching the Bachelorette season finale Layla lost her 5th tooth.  We thought she was asleep and then suddenly she came out of her room saying she thought her tooth was super loose.  It WAS and she pulled it about 5 minutes later.

She is so cute and now when she speaks you can hear a slight whistle.  It is just about the cutest thing I've ever heard.  The tooth fairy did visit her and Hayden noticed her tooth was missing first thing this morning.  

Happy Monday.

  I hope you have an awesome week!

frustrating day

Yesterday was one of those days.  It was a bad day for me.  Gary and I just weren't seeing eye to eye.  We very rarely fight, but we got into a discussion about our grocery budget and argued about the cost of a bottle of shampoo.  

Today I can laugh about how silly it was, but yesterday I was frustrated and Gary was too.

After that discussion I was just still blah all day.  I had to buy groceries and that in itself will wear a Momma out.  Layla and Hayden wanted everything in the store. I was trying to use coupons but I was so frustrated I couldn't think.  After I got the the checkout I was even more frustrated with the bill.  We were out of everything. Everything.  Ugh!  So my Walmart trip had me in tears.  I tried not to cry while sliding my debit card.  Once I got into the parking lot the tears started flowing.  I couldn't stop crying and the kids thought I'd lost my marbles.  Layla was asking what was wrong and Hayden was telling me to stop crying.  It was so pathetic and real.  I always try to be real.  I certainly was real yesterday.  I was a real silly mess.  I felt so much better after that good cry.  I think a good cry is good for the soul sometimes.  Since I was already crying I went ahead and filled my car up with gas.  Haha!  That almost made me cry all over again. 

We made it home from the grocery store in one piece and got everything put away in time for me to get dressed and go have dinner with some other preschool mommies.  It was perfect timing.  I needed the distraction.  I felt refreshed and happy after a night out with friends.

All this to say this:

I'm thankful my problems are what they are.  After seeing the evening news lately I know my family is blessed.  Gary has a job.  We aren't rich, but not poor either.  We have our health.  I am able to stay home with our kids. We are surrounded my wonderful friends and family.  I know the things I go through are bad when I'm in it, but since they aren't really that big of a deal I don't dwell on them.  

Knowing so many people lost their lives in Colorado makes me see fighting over the price of shampoo is a non-issue.  I'm thankful I can keep life in perspective even when it seems hard. 

golf camp finale & the lake

[this post has an overload of golf camp pictures]

Thursday was the last day of Layla's first ever golf camp.  We've seen serious improvements in her  putting skills.  She's doing much better using a wedge and she can hit the ball much further with her driver.

They had a putting contest on the last day.  It was fun watching her putt!

The girls also had a chipping contest and I really think Layla should have won that competition, but another little girl beat her by one chip. She did good!

They had one final competition using their driver.  Layla's driver is a tad too big for her.  I'm sure she will grow into it just fine. 

In the picture above Layla is getting her participation award.  She was so fast running up there and bad.  She can be so shy sometimes around lots of people.

After golf camp we cooled off my going to a lake near our house.

The kids giggled and laughed while riding the stingray tube.

I didn't ride it, but I think I could have taken a nap on that thing!  It looks so relaxing!

We let the kids rest in between tube rides.  While resting us adults enjoyed floating in the water while the kids jumped off the boat.  {if you all that resting}  They were doing tricks and laughing like crazy.  We were all just hanging out in the water and an airplane flew right over our heads.  It was so fun.  It's almost like the pilot was putting on a private show just for us!  It was super cool!

haha! This picture just cracks me up!

Layla had the time of her life.  She loves being on the water!

I wish I had gotten a few pictures of Hayden.  He didn't ride the tube, but he jumped in and out of the lake a million times.  This is HUGE!  He wouldn't even put his big toe into the water the last time we were at the lake.  This time he was a rock star!  I was so proud.