All- American Weekend

What a wonderful 4th of July, we started out with a baseball game on thursday night with "all you can eat" hot dogs. Jordan won by eating 6, Caleb came in second with 4.... they are still feeling the effects. The weather was perfect, Heather was disappointed to not make contact with her favorite mascot Deuce the Prairie Dog (Caleb insists he is a sloth- who picks a sloth as a mascot?) but Tom oops Deuce is trying to bribe her back Monday night with free tickets.

On Friday we cooked and shopped and swam for all of 5 minutes.... there is nothing like a large lightening bolt to clear the pool!!

No I might sound like I am bragging a bit (and I am) but our 4th celebration meal was incredible, you cannot go wrong with Pioneer Womans brisket... it is perfect every time I make it. We are using the leftovers to make PW tostados today..... yummy!

Jordan and I tried a new recipe for Bacon wrapped Jalapenos (again from PW), we called them firecrackers and they were delicious. I used nitrate free bacon.

The best part of the weekend was spending time with family. We had a wonderful visit with Aunt Gladys, Kathy, Jenny, and of course baby Jack who is now walking!

P.S. Yes Seth has a black eye... it is a long story and Hunter will reenact the whole thing for you if you ask.

I haven't used shampoo in over a year!

That's right... no shampoo. About a year ago I read a post on a mother's message board (imagine that) about a new approach to curly/naturally wavy hair. I ran out and bought the book Curly Girl and then found the website http://www.naturallycurly.com , this has changed my whole attitude about my hair.

As a baby I had a big black curl on the top of my head and by age two I had a cherub face surrounded by blonde ringlets(and a nasty temper to go with it). When you are little everyone loves the curls but then I reached puberty and not only did my body become confused so did my hair. It went from long natural waves to some sort of half straight, half frizz nightmare that earned me the name "Brillo head" on the bus (I am not making this up). I heard about women who lost their curls when they became pregnant but much to my horror the opposite happened..... more curls and more frizz! I tried growing it long believing the weight would pull some of the frizz and curl out but found instead I just had a giant head of frizz and curl. Then I made the Curly Girl discovery.

Here is my routine now-
- I wash my hair with 365 Herbal Mint conditioner from Whole Foods
- I use Avalon Organics Lavender conditioner as a leave in and let me tell you it smells amazing and since you leave it in it smells amazing all day.
- I use Aussie gel for curly hair and a little bit of scrunch spray.

I feel I am finally embracing my curls and since I have a feeling they will always be a part of who I am that's a good thing.

This is so good!

What is your cardboard testimony? I don't think they make cardboard big enough for mine.

Weddings!

My family loves a good wedding. We love to get dressed up, love seeing old friends and family (the young ones too), we love the food but we especially love the dancing.

My nephew got married this past weekend in Austin at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. It was a lovely location for a wedding. The wedding was short and sweet and I missed most of it as a bug flew in my eye and I had to keep asking Heather for updates.

We had a wonderful meal of chicken medalions with jaberno cream sauce, garlic mashed potatoes (my nephews favorite) and the most delicious salad with spinach, strawberries and candied pecans ( I considered that my dessert).

Once the dancing started though my kids were ready to go... they were bummed they had to wait until the bride and groom, bride and dad, groom and mom all had a dance ( the nerve of them) but once that was over they hit the floor. I did discover my kids are not real fond of country and western and kept wanting to know when the "real music" was going to start.

At the end of the night Seth informed me this had been the best day of his life.... and wanted to know when the next wedding was, hopefully not too long.

GREEN SMOOTHIES!!

We have recently discovered a new health food fad that is going over great in my home.....Green Smoothies. I read about a 30 day challenge on a scrapbook board and decided to try it myself. The first thing I did was purchase a Magic Bullet blender (don't forget to say blender or people look at you funny). I LOVE this thing! I can't believe I went so long without it.

The first batch I made was SO green I was afraid the boys wouldn't even try it so I called them "Incredible Hulk Smoothies" and the boys drank them right down... no complaints! Later that day Seth told Hunter he couldn't cross the monkey bars at the park at which Hunter reminded him that he had drank the smoothie and what do you know?.... Seth went right across the monkey bars!

So what makes it so green you ask..... spinach. Yes a huge handful of spinach. I mix that with various other ingredients and it taste great! Our favorite recipe right now is-

1/2 a banana

4 chunks of frozen mango

2 large strawberries

scoop of pineapple with juice

large handful of spinach

I also add a few pieces of ice, 1/2 cup of almond milk, a couple of scoops of ambrotose and a scoop of organic vanilla yogurt.

You can mix this with pretty much any fruit and other greens to use are parsley, aragula, or kale. I am going to try parsley tomorrow.

Be sure and leave me a comment to tell me what you think.... especially if you try one yourself. I would love to hear of other recipes.

Family Traditions

I am a big believer in family traditions and one of our favorites is Family Camp at Camp Arrowhead in Glen Rose, Texas.

I went as a little girl and my parents took a pop-up camper and we stayed all week. I have such wonderful memories and am still in touch with many of the friends I made on the campground.

When I got married and had children we would pop in for a night or two but when Jordan was a baby the camp opened the new lodge and I decided to go and stay all week.

We have been going every year since. My parents go, along with both of my sister in-laws which means the kids get to spend all week with their cousins.

We head up on Monday morning with a 1 1/2 hour drive. The kids know the way by watching for landmarks -turn right at the canoes, hay bales, nuclear plant, huge ant hills, honk at the birds and we are there!

The younger kids go to their own services in the morning much like a VBS and the teens have a bible study at 9 am. We have church services at 10:30am and again at 7:30pm. The teens get back together after the service for fun and games while the younger ones run the grounds looking for frogs.

We spend the afternoon swimming, chasing frogs and hiking nature trails. One afternoon the teens float down the Brazos River and we try to get to the Black Hole at the Paluxy River on another day. The week is always an incredible time for the whole family.

This year we had such a special time as one of the speakers was our former pastor, Dwight Gunter. It was so good to see them again. We celebrated Caleb's birthday at the river and no one wanted to leave. It was a very peaceful week with some wonderful messages that spoke to all of us. We came home with two frogs, tadpoles, a butterfly and a dragon fly.

We can hardly wait until next year!

Hunter's birthday

Hunter had a special birthday this year as it fell on Memorial Day. We decided to do it up big patriotic style. It started with this amazing cake....

I found the recipe at Pioneer Woman's Blog- http://thepioneerwoman.com/

I also made her brisket recipe and it was yum-meee!

The spread! Hunter picked out all his favorite foods.

Katie made a completly organic 7 layer dip that I will have to post later.

Hunter opening gifts. Heather had painted a large star on his face.

We all dressed in red, white, and blue.

Pinata time!

The candy scramble

The party ended with a water balloon fight and then swimming at the community pool.