Painting Pumpkins!

We were a little late this year getting together to do our annual pumpkin paintings with the boys.....Jeremiah has been pretty sick the past couple weeks, but he managed to recover enough to join us. He was so into it that I think he painted about 3 pumpkins himself!




John was pretty into it too.....he did a great job on his owl and moon!




Hmmm.......wonder if this one is any good with a brush ;)














and here is what we ended up with.......pretty good I think!





Happy Halloween!

One Of My Favorite Things!

Us girls just had our 4th annual girls weekend! We had a great time and I find myself looking forward to this all year! Not sure why we only do this once a year....but I guess it kinda makes it special. We head out on Friday to Columbus Ohio....we use the Country Living festival as our "reason"....but really it's just about us getting away, being free, eating when and what we want, shopping as long as we "need" to and just laughing at the stupid things that only your closest bud understands. We really do enjoy the festival and we have been so lucky every year to have awesome weather. I think it was like 72 and sunny, how perfect is that!

Here we are, coffee in hand, beautiful morning and headed to the fair!!!



Alex was the only one who had a really awesome find....she picked-up these cool cowboy boots from one of the antique booths....we were a little jealous, how cute is she!





Love you girls and thanks for sharing another awesome weekend! Can't wait until next year!!

Our boy is home!

I love this picture of my mom hugging James. He had just pulled in for a visit....this is the first time we had seen him since December 2010. He spent a little over 6 months in Afghanistan, lost about 30 lbs and missed his momma!




Dad a little tearful, but over-joyed!



Now what we do here, when someone comes home, is eat! And well, when they are down 30lbs....why not!

Rebekah made shrimp-n-grits.....now these aren't just any ole' shrimp-n-grits...these are some of the best ever!(and I've had them lots of places!)





and a little bruschetta.....

makes for a very happy family!












We love you James and welcome home!

Vacation

Well...I'm sorta back-tracking trying to remember the things we did this summer and post pictures. Hard to believe it's August, kids are back in school and fall is on it's way (I will now go into my winter depression!)

We've had a pretty full summer, I guess....I never get "enough" sun or the beach...it's my favorite place and time of year. Although, I can hardly endure long periods of time in the sun anymore and now, you'll find me under my hat, under my umbrella, instead of basting in the sun! I still like it, but my skin tells another story, the one I want no one to read :)

We made another trip to the Destin beach area in July...actually Grayton beach. I love this area, the water is typically beautiful there....well, not this year! The seaweed was so bad, I mean bad. Never seen so much. There was no one in the water the first day we got there. I thought, this can't be good and from the looks of it, we knew it wasn't something that would clear in a day or two. So, unfortunately this year wasn't one that we got to enjoy the beach much, but we still made the best of it and enjoyed our time there. The girls were great and we got a lot of Josie & Ava time in!! I think we played Pinkalicious about 100 times that week! I'm still playing it in my sleep and I can hear Ava saying "do you wanna play Pinkalicious adain"......lol!









We attempted to get pictures at the beach before dinner one night, the wind was pretty bad and it was very difficult to get everyone looking in the same direction and hair intact...but we had fun trying!










Grayton Beach 2011!!......I miss it already!! (and I could go for one more game of Pinkalicious Ava!)

Hot Peppers!!!

This is the year of the peppers.......my parents garden is putting out some major peppers this year! Josh and Amber have been working really hard on the garden, wedding and feeding the soil. Looks like it's really paying off......these are all pretty much from the first harvest on the pepper plants. And they really didn't have a lot of pepper plants, all the cayennes came from just 3 plants!



They are also are having tons of squash! We have eatin' it about every day for the past 2 weeks! It's really yummy and we are finding lots of ways to use it. We've grilled it, boiled it, put it in a casserole and a pie, used it on a veggie pizza and just eatin' it raw! Who knew you could do so much with squash! I never even cook it at my place :)



Can wait for the tomaters! I'm looking forward to lots of salsa and bruschetta!!!!

A Girlie Burger

Sometimes I get a little bored with the traditional ole' burger...but, it's what I had on hand tonight and I like making use of the grill on these nice evenings we've been having lately. I was in the mood for a little different flavor on my burger and I thought something with a creamy-cucumber sauce sounded really good and refreshing.



So, I cut some dill and lemon thyme from my garden, minced up a small cucumber and mixed it all in with some sour cream and a touch of mayo, added some salt and lots of fresh cracked pepper. I have to say, it was really good! I know this is not an original thing...it's pretty much a greek sauce, but I've never made one myself and I loved making use of some of my herbs!!



Of course my husband wanted no part of this....he stuck with the tradional ketcup and mustard!

Summer Evenings

I just love the way the sunsets in our backyard on these early summer evenings, it's the best part of the day for me. I know summer hasn't "officially" started, but hey, when it's in the 90's for several days....it's summer to me!

We've been trying to get out and take advantage of the warm and sunny weather....so far, I've planted a few flowers and gotten most of my herb garden done.....yay, can't wait until it's ready for me to use. I love having lots of fresh basil and oregano on hand. I really love cooking in the summer and especially grilling out. It's great not to mess up the kitchen and grilling always seems so much easier to me. (Maybe it's because Pat does all the grilling and I pretty much don't have to cook at all!) This is one of our quick favorites....I've been calling it my "rustic chicken salad."



We just grill some really nicely seasoned chicken breast, I make homemade garlic & herb croutons from some day old bread and just make a salad with whatever I have....I like to use red & yellow peppers, lots of cucumber, some tomato and maybe a little red onion. We've been grilling corn to go with it and it's supper quick, easy and I feel like I've eaten a meal that's good for me too!



Here is my herb garden on it's way.......



Well, I hope your summer is off to a good start....enjoy!