San Jacinto Monument

This summer I took the kids to the San Jacinto Monument. The state park houses the monument, the battlegrounds of the famous San Jacinto battle that defeated Santa Anna and won our Texas independence as well as the Battleship Texas.

The monument itself is SO tall! We rode an elevator all the way to the top and then had a chance to look at breathtaking views. 

After we watched a couple of educational videos, gaped at blue skies and lush green landscape, and toured the museum, we headed out for the hiking trail that is maintained by Texas Parks and Wildlife. We enjoyed looking at the swamp land and birds and didn't even get eaten by mosquitoes! It was a good day!

Summer Canning

This summer I decided to tackle canning. When I was a kid, we canned and preserved all kinds of produce all summer, but since I've grown up, I just haven't. I don't really even have a reason...

Anyway, this summer I decided that it was beyond high time...

I met up with a friend of mine and we canned her batch of cucumbers and turned them into pickles. I also took advantage of some great sales on strawberries and made a bunch of strawberry preserves. (Hayden is a HUGE fan. Strawberry anything is his favorite.)

Then I moved on to peach preserves. These just happen to be Shane's favorite. I have made several batches and would say that we have plenty to keep us for a while. Gibson has proven to be a great help in the kitchen when it's time to can peaches. He can peel and slice with the best of them.

Of course I had to make cobbler. That many peaches around just screams flaky crust and vanilla ice cream! Yum!

It's extremely satisfying to have little jars that I made myself!

My baby is not really a baby anymore...sigh...

As we were eating pizza for dinner, my youngest jumped up from the table and ran screaming to the bathroom.

She was in complete hysterics from the other room. I had her come back and she had a mouth full of blood. (She hates bleeding of any kind more than anything in the world. She has a very real fear that her body is "leaking" and that she will die.) As she was showing me her mouth, she just reached in and yanked out the whole tooth. I didn't even know that it was loose! The crying continued because now her teeth were "broken."

Dinner was full of drama as she was finished eating and asked a million questions.

She wanted to know if I still thought that she was beautiful.

Then she let me know that she has lost part of her "collection" of teeth. She has names for every. single. one. of. them. The one that she just lost is Jade.

The tooth fairy will be making a visit tonight!

Gettin' Old

Landry has been looking forward to her birthday since Christmas was over.

As her birthday is the last day of August, it has been 8 months...

For 8 months she has been talking about the toys that she is going to get, the cake that she will have, the cute and sparkly party that is going to happen...

Cut to this morning.

I was brushing her hair and she was crying (nothing new). 

"Landry, you are almost 6! You can't cry when you are almost 6!"

This just made her cry harder.

"I don't want to be 6!"

I asked her, "You don't want to have a birthday?!"

"Yes, I want to have a birthday! I just don't want to be 6!"

"Well, why don't you want to be 6?"

"Because it's just so old..." she moaned.

Sister Weekend 2013

The highlight of my summer, so far, has been Sister Weekend 2013. 

I am the oldest of 8 kids (for those who may not know), and there are 5 girls and 3 boys in our family. Dan married, so that adds another sister, Naomi. 

This last weekend, we were able to get all of the girls together for a very fun filled, and fast, trip. They all came to our house and we swam in the pool, lounged at the beach, shopped along The Strand in Galveston, ate LOTS of food, and just generally had a great time. This is a must-do for each summer, I think.

As usual, I got busy having fun and then forgot to take pictures...sigh...

I did get a couple at the beach and so did Mia, so I'll share what I've got!

 Here are all of the girls. From left to right: me, Esther, Judith, Mia, Bekah, and Naomi.

 Lots of sunning was going on, especially since the jelly fish were really bad. I have never seen that many come in at once. We had a few casualties of our own.

 The jelly fish made us look for lots of shells and beach goodies...

 And of course, there must be snacks!

Mia took these pictures and did a great job capturing the afternoon.

 Hayden

 Landry

 Aunt Bekah and Grace

 This was all of us scooping a jelly fish in the bucket and then trying to avoid the tentacles and get it to the trash.

There were some mad chess matches happening throughout the weekend.

We had a great time. I love my sisters and can't wait until we can do it again!

How Hannah Got Her Groove Back

This is the story about how Hannah got her groove back.

Does anyone else remember that movie?

The movie was How Stella Got Her Groove Back, not me. ;)

I actually never saw it...

Anyway, after lying around for a few days and feeling like I could never move again and having not an ounce of energy, I have brewed up my very favorite iced coffee recipe. With an iced coffee in one hand and a bottle of spray cleaner in the other, I am taking on the world today!

This is definitely one of my most favorite summer indulgences. It takes a full pound of coffee to make a batch, but considering that buying two coffees at a coffee shop is the monetary equivalent to making a full gallon of this nectar, it's definitely worth it. The quality of the coffee beans definitely contributes to the quality of your brew.

This scrumptious picture is from one of my favorite bloggers, The Pioneer Woman. We are kindred spirits. She just doesn't know it. :)

You can find her recipe here. This is how I first started making mine and she offers several variations and lots of gorgeous pictures to guide you along the way to finding coffee bliss.

Here are my very simple directions. I make mine a little stronger than she does.

This can be made two separate ways. Long ago, when I was the only one drinking iced coffee, I would make it in half batches. Now that my daughter has joined me in the obsession, I have to make a full batch. 

We are on a full caffeine buzz around here.

Okay, on to the directions.

• Fill a large bowl with a gallon of water (1/2 a gallon for a half batch.)

• Add a full pound of ground coffee beans to the water and stir with a wooden spoon making sure that the coffee mixes in with the water. (Half of the bag for a half batch.)

• Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave on the counter for 12-24 hours. 

• Strain the coffee grounds. (I actually use my coffee filter from the coffee maker and then just strain straight into my pitcher that is designated for my iced coffee in the fridge.)

• And that's it! Add whatever you like to put in your coffee and enjoy!

You will thank me. Now I'm off to buzz around the house and do some DEEP cleaning. I think that I probably will need another coffee.

First and Last Day 2012-13

Here was the first day of this last school year.

It was still dark outside, so we had to take the picture inside before we left. As usual, Landry was being her fantastically jovial self when it's time to take a picture.

The kids were exhausted after a summer of sleeping in and then being jolted back to reality with a 6 a.m. wakeup and 6:30 a.m. leave time. I had a gallon of coffee before we got to school.

During this school year we have accomplished SO MUCH!

The older three are all moving on to 7th, 3rd and 2nd grades. Landry is going to repeat kinder. Her August 31st birthday didn't do her a whole lot of favors. While there was great progress, another year won't hurt her. Thankfully, she's tiny and just now looks like she should be a kindergartner.

We have participated in field days, awards ceremonies, tests, programs and performances, lots of playtime with friends at recess, packing up all of our classrooms and moving to a new campus mid-year (that was a big one, folks!), schmoozing with the cafeteria ladies (That is Gibson's favorite past-time. He has those ladies wrapped around his pinky finger.), and just generally living big.

Before we hopped in the car for our last day, I made them all come and pose for a picture. I would say "smile," but not everybody did (Landry.) I think that she is squeezing out a "cheese" between clenched teeth.

This summer feels a little different for me. Before every past summer that I can remember with the kids, I have had all of my museum passes lined up, have researched all of the great "kid-friendly" things to do in our area, filled out a calendar, and have generally had a plan. This summer I am going to be the "mom bum."

I have no plans.

No agenda.

We are going to VBS in July. Grace is going to church camp in July. That's it.

Our big goal is to make sure that everyone gets their teeth brushed twice a day. I think that I may have set the bar really high...