Bloomin' Flowers

I use to hate my front yard. We had crooked trees, prickly holly bushes, and crazy monkey grass....it wasn't very inviting. This last spring we pulled out all the ugly landscaping and replanted everything new. It is all blooming now and looks so beautiful. I now love to pull up in my driveway and see all the beautiful colors and see just cute my little yard has become. :)

P.S......I left Kate alone in the shower for a few minutes and when I went in to check on her this is what I found. She was in her star-shaped goggles, squeegee in hand, wiping down the glass doors. We had just come home from the swimming pool and I guess she had not had enough.

Zoo in Review

Saturday we ventured out to the Fort Worth Zoo even though it was super hot. We love going to the zoo minus Cary...but because he loves us so much he endured the long drive, the heat, and the stinky animals.

I thought because it was so hot that most of the animals would be sleeping in the corners of their way to small pens/cages, but most of them were in rare form ready to play.

The monkeys are my favorite. It is so interesting to me how much they move and "act" like people. They are so cute!

Kate's absolute favorite animal in the world is a tiger. I don't know how or when this started, but she has been obsessed with them from the time she was very little. She even had to wear her tiger shirt that day.

The bird atrium was a little frightening. They were everywhere, but they were beautiful. Joshua and Braeden got a kick out of feeding them.

Kate was really brave and got to pet a horseshoe crab.....me, not so much.

And that my friends, concludes our day at the zoo.....it was a good day.:)

111

This kid woke me up at 6:59am yesterday morning...

So that we could go here as I had promised 4 days before...

Because he had some money burning a whole in his pocket and 107 of these little guys just aren't enough....

He's now added four more new lego men/women for a grand total of 111. I am 100% sure this collection is not complete yet....the boy is obsessed!

Kids Fave

One of our favorite summer time beverages is an Orange Julius. They are tangy, yet sweet and they totally remind me of an Orange Dreamsicle frozen ice cream pop. They are soooo good and perfect for the summer time heat.



6 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate
1 c. water
1 c. milk (to make even creamier substitute half of milk with heavy cream)
1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
ice cubes (enough to fill to the top of the blender)

Add all ingredients in order into a blender. Blend until smooth. Top with whip cream for an extra special treat!

Makin' Cookies

We bake something almost every Sunday. Yesterday I wasn't in the mood so Braeden took on the role of baker. Isn't he sooo cute in his gingerbread apron? And the cookies were super delicious!

This week...

we cracked open a coconut...

went to the library.....

saw Eclipse...:)

discovered it is walking stick season....

got a haircut...

and found this very gross spider in Joshua's bookshelf that is right next to his bed!

Tonight we are off to Missouri to celebrate the fourth and relax for the next week...see ya when we get home!