Weekend with The Chacheres

This past weekend this incredibly giving man and his family came to stay with us:

Tony Chachere & his wife Amy {pictured behind Tony}.

Joining them was their adorable daughter Alyssa {who was wonderful with all 3 of my children}!: Tony agreed to cook donated dinner for all the golfers following the 2nd Annual Patrick Murphree Memorial Golf Tournament. They arrived into town late Thursday afternoon. Friday, Jody and Tony were tied up with preparations...so Amy and I took these 3 children...

...here... Mine haven't been all summer long...so they were thrilled! Banks and Alyssa quickly jumped in line for this slide:

While Mary Reese decided these were more her speed:

Banks and Alyssa decided they wanted to hit the other slides while Mary Reese preferred it here:

She LOVED the waves and was absolutely FEARLESS! This is the look I got when I told her I wasn't going to the 8 FT with her:

Who pouts at Point Mallard? She cheered right up when Banks and Alyssa appeared again.

We had a great afternoon swimming, sliding and jumping the waves! We headed home for a quick rest before going to David and Sue's for hamburgers. It was fun spending time with all of Patrick's high school and college friends...they are such a wonderful group of people & always make me laugh!

Family Favorite: Zucchini Bread

Last week, we made Zucchini Bread. We were hoping for some zucchini fresh out of our garden but ours were only this big:


So we resorted to the Farmer's Market. While we where there, we picked up these beauties:


I have enjoyed them in my kitchen all week long! After we arranged our flowers, I gathered all the ingredients we needed:


Then I grabbed one of my wonderful assistants...


...and we mixed our "gredients". Then we poured it in the pans and waited patiently for 1 hour until the loaves were finally done!


A certain little boy was playing outside during the stirring and baking. As soon as he caught a whiff of the bread, he headed in for a sampling:


It got his stamp of approval {only because I left the nuts out of 2 loaves}! Since we had enough zucchini for 4 loaves...we shared with the neighbors. Meet my delivery boy:


The next day I went opened the front door and found this on the doorstep:


A sweet {but totally unnecessary} Thank You note from one of the neighbors!

Sister Strikes Again

Who thinks a little boy needs a pink fleece mitten on their foot in 90 degree weather and a Camp Rock sticker to decorate his diaper? His sister does!

Sweet Dreams

Last night I went to bed having sweet dreams of diving into a slice of this for breakfast: Cinnamon Sugar Bread Thankfully, I cut into it last night for a little bedtime snack {I can't resist fresh bread out of the oven}.

This morning, Jody came back into the room to inform me that the entire loaf of Cinnamon Sugar Bread was GONE! I will give you 3 guesses on who ate the entire loaf while the rest of the family was fast asleep {HINT: he has 4 legs, brown hair and has a MAJOR sweet tooth}! I am still kicking myself for not securing it better:

So for breakfast I had to settle for this:

Sourdough Bread smeared with Peanut Butter {just as delicious}! For some reason our midnight snacker didn't touch the loaf of plain bread!

Baby It's HOT Outside!

When the temperatures are in the nineties {and it feels way HOTTER than that} and the pool no longer feels cool, what do you do? Thanks to a friend, I discovered Kids' Summer Film Series {free movie Mondays and Wednesdays} here:

So this morning, we loaded up and headed out to see Alvin and the Chipmunks! We own the movie...but it was so fun to see on the big screen while eating movie theater popcorn! Here we are patiently waiting for the movie to begin {we got there about 45 minutes early because I knew FREE = PACKED}:

Shortly after this picture was taken, I realized I left Owen's bottle in the car. We quickly made a mad dash back to the car. Somehow in all the confusion, Mary Reese's kid's combo pack ended up in the floor. So in our way back in...we hit up the concession stand for another round! After the movie, we walked around to look at the fountains. I tried to get a cute picture of Banks and Mary Reese:

Very cooperative don't you think {I can't wait to show her this in 10 years}! A few minutes later she turned that pout into a smile:

A few minutes after that...the security guard was approaching us to let us know that we shouldn't be wading in the fountain! We were all sweating by the time we reached the car, so I quickly headed to one of our favorite spots for a cool summer treat {truth be known...we like it in the winter just as well}:

There is nothing like one of these on a hot day:

We all scarfed down our dip cones like someone was going to take them away from us!

4 Month Check up

Owen had is 4th Month Check Up this morning. I loaded up all 3 kids and made it to the pediatrician's office for our 8 am appointment! Dr. K said he looked great! He weighed in at 16 lbs 12 ozs and measured 25 3/4 inches long {in comparison to Banks-15 lbs 7oz and 25 1/4 inches long and to Mary Reese-12 lbs 15 ozs and 24 3/4 inches long}. After he was weighed, measured, poke and prodded...he got 3 shots and an oral vaccination {always the hardest part}. It won't be long before he catches up with the rest of the bunch!

Dr. K said we could start Owen on some of this: Little did he know we have been trying it out for a week or so.

This picture was the first time he ate some Oatmeal...his palette has developed and he seems to like it a little better!

Family Favorite: Calzones

Last night for dinner we had some delicious and delightful calzones {we have pizza night at least every other week...so I wanted a new twist}!

I made my new favorite pizza dough recipe {courtesy of Frank Stitt's Bottega Cookbook} but you could buy some pre-made {Publix has a great one in their bakery}. I cut the dough into thirds {I cut one of the thirds into half for "mini" calzones so each child could have their own.} I browned some ground beef, Italian sausage and pepperoni; drained it and returned it to the pan. Then I mixed in about 1/2 of a can of pizza sauce. I piled the meat mixture on one side of the rolled out dough and then topped it with chopped banana peppers, basil, oregano {all from our garden} and shredded mozzarella cheese:

I sealed them up with some egg and brushed some more on top. I baked them in at 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes. I served them with a side of pizza sauce for dipping {who doesn't like to dip?}. My entire family won a "Clean Plate Award"...Jody said it was better than the one he had here, and Mary Reese wanted another one for breakfast!

New Trick

The morning after Stacey and David's wedding, I found Owen on his tummy! By the looks of this...

I think he has officially mastered the skill {the jury is still out on if he likes being on his tummy once he gets there}!

a happy 4th

We hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July weekend! We headed out Thursday night for a long weekend here:

I love being able to pack for a family of 5 in this:

and seeing this:

unless you are in just the right spot!

Friday morning, Banks, Mary Reese and I headed out for a little nature walk {all I kept hearing was "How much longer?" and "I am sweating!" and "When are we going back to the cabin?"}:

in search of these {with the hopes of a cobbler for dessert}:

our dreams were crushed when all the blackberries to be found were these:

but we did end up with a nice bouquet of these for our table:

We had a nice relaxing weekend eating some wonderful food:

and swimming in the lake:

with 2 short boating trips: {Owen was fine with the green floatation device around the dock...he hated the life jacket he had to wear on the boat which kind of reminded me of a summer version of Ralphie's little brother on A Christmas Story!}

and enjoying these:

The only mishap of the weekend occurred on our way back in from our 2nd boating trip. We were rounding the bend home when we saw this on the gas gage: Thankfully we weren't too far from home and some nice fellow lake friends gave us one of these back to the dock:

bribery & a cool treat

bribery

Several of us mommas offered bribes to our children if they walked down the aisle Saturday and held up their end of the flower girl/ring bearer role. {Bribery can't be that bad...the pediatrician suggested it when I was trying to potty train Banks!} Mine were bribed with a shopping trip to pick out a brand new toy {because we don't already have enough}:

Banks picked out a glow station and Mary Reese a Wedding Day Sparkle doll.

a cool treat

Mine kids have always loved yogurt. Yesterday I put some in a muffin tin, stuck a stick in the middle and put them in the freezer...

Mary Reese thought it was delicious, delightful and cool refreshing treat! {excuse her appearance...she had been playing in the sprinkler and eating pizza}