Tasty Food Tuesday

My fabulous friend that lives all the way in Califronia (too far away for my liking) turned me onto a great web site called Our Best Bites. It is a wonderful resource with a ton of different, easy recipes. I have simply fallen in love with a ton of their food, but I have yet to try everything! 

Recently I tried their chocolate chip cookie pie and let me tell you it was as good as it sounds! I made it one evening thinking it would be cooled enough to have the next day with the family...But it didn't make it to see the next day. It was so DELICIOUS! The husband and I tired it to make sure we wouldn't get sick (wink, wink) and we simply couldn't stop eating it. So I made another one the next day for the whole family and the boys kept asking for more. That sealed the deal for that recipe, it has now become a staple in my cook book!

I'm linking the web site, and the recipe here. Hope you enjoy as much as I have!

Our friendly, neighborhood Squirrel

 We have been adopted! By a squirrel that is, and boy is he cute! He comes to visit almost every day. We sure have come to like this little guy (or girl, don't really know yet). My great Uncle gave us some black walnuts last year and we keep our 'stash' in the garage for when our little friend stops by for a visit. I can't wait for the day that he/she will eat out of my hand, I think that would be totally awesome! For now myself and the rest of the family will observe from afar!

He is trying to hide, I think for the most part he blends in nicely with our driveway!

My 5 year old refers to him as OUR pet squirrel!

Isn't he just adorable?!

Scout Camp 2011

Well now that the oldest is a Weblos he was able to go to over-night scout camp! It was pretty tough on mom mostly because I'm so use to having him around all the time since he was you know born! He had such a great time on his 4 day, 3 night getaway. 

The whole family went to have dinner with him on his last night, it was family day. We met all of his friends and took some pictures. He told us some funny stories (I think you have to be a nine year old boy to 'get it' though?!), and he let us know what he had been up to while he was away. I am so proud of him and how far he has come since joining scouts.

So here is to many more years of scouting and all the fun to be had and lessons to learn!

Here are some of my boys being silly and posing for the camera! I literally have no idea what kind of pose they are doing. (Can you say blackmail someday?!)

I know it was supposed to be all about the oldest and his scouting adventures, but how can I not share this adorable picture of my youngest two getting along so well?

Squid-dogs

 My wonderful kids have fallen in love with a food called squid-dogs. What are squid-dogs you ask, well I'll tell you. They are hot dogs that have spaghetti pushed through the middle, and then boiled for about 10 minutes. Sound delicious don't they?! Yeah I didn't think so either, but the kids love them! I'm not going to complain about how gross they are (mostly because I haven't actually tried them) but because they are so easy to make and I never have left overs. The kids eat them with ketchup and I can never seem to make enough.

The littlest one saying Mmmmmm!

Independence Day!!

I seriously LOVE everything to do with the 4th of July. The freedoms we celebrate because of our Founding Fathers. The fabulous food. The fireworks. And of course time with family and friends. 

This year we didn't spend the day with any of our friends because we were really unsure of our plans until the day before. Then it was too late to invite any one over, but next year we won't be making that mistake! 

Instead we spent the whole day together as a family, and it was amazing!

We worked around the house, we ate a ton of delicious food, and we watched the fireworks in the neighborhood. The kids played in the kiddie pool and ran through the sprinklers.

All in all it was a great day! Much better than last year, but we won't get into that right now.

My wonderful husband did do something that was mighty silly, and it threatened to ruin the whole day!

He thought it might be a good day to work in his bee hives. Now normally I wouldn't bat an eyelash to this, but I probably should have on this day! So he suited up in his helmet and face protector and got the smoker out. He wasn't however wearing long pants, just shorts which is a no-no in the whole working bees business and I'll tell you why. Within a COUPLE of minutes of taking the top off of the bee hive those ladies started coming at him with a vengeance! They got him alright, actually not once, not twice, but THREE whole times they got him! 

His legs were hurting pretty bad and he wasn't feeling too well either. 

I rushed out the door to get him some benadryl and some other meds to help him to feel better. When I came back home my dear husband was almost certain he was going to have to go to the hospital. Luckily he ended up recovering and feeling better after a few HOURS! I was so happy when he could get off the couch without feeling like he was going to fall over. Right then and there I told him he can work those bees any other day of the year except holidays! He has been fine ever since, but that sure was a close call of postponing our Fourth of July celebrations!

On the bright side of things, I did get to take a lot of pictures of our cute little kids!

My beautiful purple cone flower! I love those beauties!

 Our lovely ladies enjoyed the day too!

Father & Son Campout

During Memorial Day weekend the husband took a few of the kiddos to a Father & Son campout. They had so much fun climbing trees, hiking, swimming in the creek, climbing a fire tower and so on. The second night when everyone cleared out the rest of the kids and I showed up to join in on the fun!

Those are some cute little guys, aren't they?! And their little dog too!

I love roasting marshmellows, and eating hot dogs all while being in the great outdoors. We did so many fun and exciting things over our extended weekend. The camp grounds were secluded and empty because the whole camp was reserved for our group (sweet)!

We took all the kids through Wolf Cave and oh my goodness it was wet, cold, and scary. I don't recommend it for the faint of heart. Or for mom's that don't like their kids crying because they just can't go on!

The big, bad, scary cave that was full of nasty spiders. (Momma don't like spiders!)

My precious fourth child learned how to change mommy's squeaky brakes!

All in all though it was a successful and wonderful getaway.

Dairy Farm Field Trip!

 All the way back in May, (yes I said May, and I know I'm a little behind in my blog) the family and I had the chance to go to a really neat dairy farm. We learned all about how those farmers get the milk from the cow, (to which my oldest told me only the moms can give milk! Who knew?!) to the store and then our refrigerators! It was quite an experience and we had a great time. The boys really liked letting the cows lick their hands (GROSS) and I thought the family that owned the farm were super cool people.

Good Times, Good Friends!

It seems to me that things have a way of working out most of the time.
When one door closes another one opens?!

When you need things sometimes, and don't even ask, they happen. Recently a couple close friends of mine have moved far away. I still keep in touch with one of those dear friends, but I still miss them. Luckily for me a couple really neat people have moved into the area and I am so grateful. Good friends are hard to find, but I love the opportunity of getting to know new people. 

Especially when they have the same interest as I do!

So here is to new friendships!

Overwhelmed

For the past few months or so my family and I have been going through some rough times. With a little help and a lot of prayer I finally see the light at the end of the tunnel I think. I sure hope that's the case because I don't know how much more endurance I have!

Not to sound too down about too many things though, this time of year is something to be grateful for. I love summer time and the renewal I feel after being cooped up in the house all winter. My boys and I have been spending a ton of time at the pool and I am trying to relax and have a good summer with my family. Time together, being outside, adventures and trips-what I love about this time of year!

Recently I was perusing the blogging world and an old friend of mine posted about a neat website she found. It was a eureka moment for me-exactly what I need and didn't even know I was looking for. The web site is http://www.flylady.net/index.asp, it is amazing! This will be my new project for the time being and then hopefully it will be a habit.

Hope everyone is having a fabulous summer!