The cooking extravaganza has continued this week. It's been a week of experimenting - I made a goal to make no meal that I have made before. So here's what's been on the menu: (and yes, they are almost all PW recipes)

bowtie lasagna - this was tasty, everyone liked it and it would be an easy soccer night meal

I made these PW Marlboro Man sandwiches and they just didn't impress me. Or even the hubby. I think they would be great with high quality beef, like a sirloin, but the cube steak just isn't my favorite type of beef.

This watermelon granita is my favorite thing this week. You take an entire watermelon, cut it into chunks, add some lime juice and a little sugar. Put in a blender or food processor then freeze for one hour. Scrape the mixture to shave the ice in one hour increments for 3-4 hours and you're done! So easy. I've been eating it all week and my kids love it too.

Gazpacho = delicious. This is dinner tonight with a little grilled chicken.

In the meantime, my oldest girl has been at camp all week, and judging from the few pics I have received via facebook, she's having a grand ol' time hanging out by the snack shak. Avery and I had a girls day where we got pedicures, went to lunch, and bought all of her school supplies. I think she enjoyed the pedicure the most!

We spent last weekend at Lake Ouachita with my brother and his wife. We always have such a great time with them. My brother is great with my girls and loves to take them tubing. Of course I forgot my camera, so these are the only pics I took from the entire weekend.

We finished up the weekend with my nephew's birthday party. My sister-in-law is so talented. His cake was amazing!

Hope your week has been filled with yummy food and good times too!

I love the laid back routines of summer. Even though it is steaming hot outside, I find myself cooking more in the summer just because I have more time. It's much more fun to cook when everyone is not rushing home at 6:45 looking at you to hurry up already, give them food!

I found the how sweet it is website a few months ago and recently tried out a few recipes. My entire family is a huge fan of her cashew chicken

and the crunchy honey chicken.

Yeah for new chicken dishes! Last weekend I made crazy feta. I know it sounds a little weird, but it definitely grows on you. Of all people, Nathan loved it and couldn't get enough. Today we made these fruit pizzas:

Oh my, these were so yummy! I love that the crust is made with whole wheat flour too. Of course I took no pictures of my own, so you will just have to make them yourself!

Farewell Harry

It's no secret I'm a huge Harry Potter fan. I started reading the HP series around 2003 when some of the early books made their way to paperback. I was surprised at how quickly I breezed through the books, finding them full of extraordinary detail and tales of adventure and friendship. I think I read books 1-4 in one summer. Then I had to wait for book 5. As soon as it came out, I remember rushing to buy a copy before heading to the lake with Marty's family. I was pregnant with Avery, on the lake in a boat and while everyone else was skiing, I had my head buried in that book the entire time. Then came book 6, and finally book 7. I bought that book on a Saturday and asked Marty to watch the girls all day for me. I read it in one day. Along the way, I have seen all of the movies. Sometimes at the theater, sometimes on DVD. They are cute, and fun to watch, but nowhere as magical as JK Rowling's Harry.

I have always been thrilled that Mackenzie is such a great reader, and I had secretly hoped she would love Harry too. She asked to read the books 3 summers ago, when she was 7. That first summer, I let her read books 1 and 2. She loved them and begged me to let her read further, but I made her wait. I knew the older books needed more maturity. The summer she was 8, she read books 3, 4, and 5. Last summer she was finally allowed to read books 6 and 7. Harry has become a part of our summer landscape and we would have it no other way! We re-read the books together, we watch the movies together, we listen to podcasts, we have our own discussions about things like Jo's foreshadowing and storytelling styles. Nerdy? yes. Has it been extremely fun having something to bond over every summer? you bet.

When Mackenzie turned 10, I allowed her to see her first HP film in the theater last fall. Since it was during the school week, we could not go to the midnight movie, but it was our first opportunity to watch one of the films together in the theater. She has been geared up all summer long for the release of the final movie. We bought our tickets well in advance and set out for the theater with some caffeine for me and a Harry t-shirt for her. She loved seeing all of the fans dressed up in glasses and cloaks. The movie experience was great with the entire audience clapping and cheering Harry on. We laughed. We cried. And for 2 days we have talked about our favorite parts and lines of the film. It has been so fun to share this journey with my little reader!

a little getaway

Yesterday was my hubby's 39th birthday. 39!! How in the world did we get so old? We still feel like we are 23. Well, kinda like 23. We celebrated his birthday this weekend in his favorite manner - a quick getaway with no kids. Thanks to my sister, who kept the girls, and his mom, who kept Nathan, we took a road trip to Branson. Now Branson is not usually our favorite place, but we had the best time this weekend. We took our time driving some unusal backroads (I wish I had taken a pic of the one lane, wooden bridge we found our selves driving over) and ate at some really fun places. We spent some time exploring Big Cedar Lodge. It's huge, beautiful, and has so much to do. We are definitely planning to bring the kids back for a few days. Seriously, they have fishing, the lake (and toys for the lake), smores by the campfire every night, horseback riding, cooking classes, night time movies at the pool, lazy river, etc. Our kids would love it. Just maybe not when it's 110 degrees outside.

We had a champagne brunch there on Sunday morning and it was such a fun meal. Where else can you have such an amazing view while eating rack of lamb and crab legs for breakfast? It was the perfect place for no kids.

After brunch we went to Dogwood Canyon for the day. I'm not sure how we have lived in the area this long and never really heard about this place. It is a beautiful nature center filled with waterfalls, springs, and trout. They offer biking, walking, and hiking trails, along with horseback riding, ATV tours, private jeep excursions, a 2 hour tram tour and trout fishing. We did the adventure package which included the biking, tram and trout fishing for $40 each. Turned out to be a pretty reasonable deal since we were there for 6 hours. It's hard to describe this place without seeing it, but my favorite was the bike ride. You ride over covered bridges and can stop along the way at all of the waterfalls and springs you want to look at. I only had my phone camera with me, so these pics aren't the best, but they are better than nothing.

The best part of the tram ride was riding through the pasture to feed the elk and bison that are free roaming. They were beautiful and so close!

We truly had the best time. It was good to get away from the kids and just have fun with each other for a day!

iPhone clean up

Ever since I got a phone with a decent camera, I find myself forgetting that I have pictures tucked away on my phone that need to be downloaded. So here's a little iPhone picture reveal. Enjoy!

Picture of my dad's new car. It's pretty swanky and if I wasn't toting around 3 kids, I'd love one myself. So happy for my dad - he deserves nothing but the best!

Picture of the pool at our gym where we spend more time swimming than working out. Maybe not the best plan. :)

Pic of Avery and her sweet friends at VBS. She had a great time that week and made the decision to be baptized! We still have to plan the date, but I am excited she wants to show her friends and family that she accepted Jesus into her heart last December.

My girls and one of Mackenzie's good friends from VBS. I spent the week working with 4th graders and they blessed me so much that week. I had the privilege of counseling this sweet girl to accept Christ that week and it has been the highlight of my summer by far. Just a sweet reminder that when you serve - you are always blessed in return!

Beach tanning practice. Enough said.

On our trip south to the beach, we passed miles and miles of cornfields. Somewhere along hour number 6, a dare was thrown down that I would shuck some corn from the side of the road if Marty pulled over. Let's just say I won that dare and I can add "shucked corn" to my list of accomplishments.

Remember those 600+ beach pictures? This is the ONLY pic of Marty and myself that made it home. Sad. It's an ok pic, but there's not even a beach in the shot. Oh well, maybe next time.

Our favorite meal from our beach trip happened here: at George's at Alys beach. We stopped in on a whim and it will now be a must do for following trips. Oh, and the following week I saw online that Katherine Heighl and her husband ate here as well. Good taste!

2nd favorite meal from Destin is Pompano Joes. Sometimes I think their grilled crab legs are 75% of the reason my husband agrees to go back to Destin. :)

Apparently this is how you play dress up when you mom gets rid of all of your princess dress up clothes because you are "too old". I say this version uses a lot more creative brain cells, is totally original and beats a too small Cinderella dress by far!

4th of July was traumatic for Lexi. Terrified of the fireworks, she escaped from our house and ran away. This pic was taken the next morning, after she had found her way home. With those eyes, I think she was ignoring the scolding she was getting for running away.

A few nights ago, Nathan had a dream that involved a ghost. For the past 4 days, he has refused to go into his room because of this ghost. Bedtimes have been a challenge. Last night he agreed to sleep in his bed, but only upside down and with every light on. Sigh. He's hamming for the camera here in an attempt to keep me in his room longer. Love that boy.

Well folks, that represents a a handful of our on-the-fly pics. It's a blogging jackpot - boring vacation photos AND blurry iPhone pics! Consider it your 2 for 1 special and have a fabulous weekend!

Yea! A new blog post!

I cannot believe I have not posted since May 19th! No going back, just going to pick up and run with it. Summer is in full swing and it hasn't been until this week that boredom has set in. We copied my friend Valerie's idea of creating a summer "bucket list" and that has been so much fun for everyone. We all threw in ideas and contributed, so there is a lot of personal satisfaction when items are crossed off. It helps give a little focus to summer as well.

We have almost completed Nathan's swimming lessons (he's done fantastic!), enjoyed VBS, and spent a wonderful vacation at the beach. We had a wonderful, mostly relaxing time. As I took over 600 pictures (ridiculous, I know), I am taking my time sorting through them all. I desperately tried for a decent pic of all 3 kids. Ha-ha. There is no such thing. Here's the best I could achieve on our designated picture night:

Um... yeah, not good. Most pictures looked like this:

so, I guess it's all relative, right?

On our last night of the beach, we found a huge deserted sand castle and an impromptu game of "king of the world" became Nathan's favorite thing. In a rare moment of sympathy for the crazy lady behind the camera all week, they managed to look the same direction at one time.

Sure, they are spaced too far apart, beach hair is everywhere, nobody matches, they are all 3 covered in sand, but I love this picture. This is my kiddos in real life - all messy, but (usually) smiling. Eventually I'll get around to sharing some of the great individual pics I took, but for now, this one is my favorite!